Shaun Tan's The Arrival

The Arrival is a wordless graphic novel about the experiences of a man immigrating to a new country. His country of origin and the place in which he arrives do not seem to relate or be based on any specific real-world places. They are fantastic, strange, and otherworldly - especially the new and unfamiliar land. The man's experience, however, closely relates to the experiences of immigrants to the United States who came through Ellis Island beginning in 1892.The series of images during the man's "intake" into the country seemed true to that history. He is physically examined, questioned, and tagged with a bunch of pieces of paper that have no meaning for him because they are written in an unfamiliar language (that even the reader does not recognize). In reading this section I felt the man's frustration in his unmet need to communicate and his indignity at having to undergo these somewhat humiliating trials.

I believe The Arrival can teach students about the power of art. Through nothing but imagined images, readers connect with the character(s) to learn about the experiences and emotions of immigrants. No one will argue - this book is beautiful. The drawings are outstanding: vividly detailed, highly imaginative, skilled, and precise. Tan seems to have used a material/medium readily available to anyone who'd like to try (graphite pencils). I loved the contrast of his classical style of rendering with the sort of futuristic look of the new country. The softness and color of the images that is created in this

medium help to communicate the fact that this story relates to history. They seem like old photographs or documents, or the way things can look in memory. I also loved noticing how Tan made choices in pacing and focus through the scope and content of the images. A small series of images can convey a single action or scene or portray the passing seasons of a year. A whole-page illustration has a "zoom out" effect and allows us to see the full setting for a single moment in time. The variety of image sizes helps break up the story and focus us in on certain parts.

The images in the story that I found most moving were the ones that depicted the man's loneliness without his wife and daughter, who had to remain (temporarily) behind. To communicate the pain of leaving them behind, Tan focuses in on grasped hands that slowly let go. When the man finally finds a place to live, in my favorite scene of the book, he opens up his suitcase to reveal a little table at which is wife and daughter sit, looking sad. It so poignantly illustrates that this suitcase is all he now has of home: his only connection to the ones he loves.

Luckily, he also finds an adorable little companion creature (pictured on the cover) in his new apartment. The addition of that little buddy made the story so much better for me - I was starting to feel very depressed before he showed up! The creature is a native of this new land and to a certain extent can help the man learn how to find what he needs. It also fills a little bit of his loneliness and helps him meet some new people.

I loved this book, purchased a copy for myself, and plan to include it in my future classroom library. It can transcend age and ability levels, could generate a lot of thought and discussion, and will maybe even inspire students to try their hands at visual artwork.