Carry On: Poetry by Young Immigrants

by Various contributors, Rogé Girard (Illustrator)

Overview

A moving #OwnVoices poetry collection written by young newcomers to Canada


Carry On began in a high school in Outremont, Quebec, where author and poet Simon Boulerice conducted creative-writing workshops for young newcomers to Canada. As the students began writing, their poems gave voice to their reflections on leaving family, friends, and countries of origin to make new homes and connections in their new home, Canada.


Paired with expressive portraits by award-winning artist Rogé, each young writer reflects on the experience of leaving one home for another. The collection of poems express feelings of anxiety, sorrow, anticipation, gratitude, and hope for the future. With thoughtful verse and evocative illustrations, Carry On is a tribute to human resilience, the voices of newcomers, and creating empathy for all those who wonder about their place in the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771474160
Publisher:	OWLKIDS BOOKS
Publication date:	04/15/2021
Pages:	36
Product dimensions:	8.75(w) x 12.00(h) x (d)
Lexile:	NP (what's this?)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

ROGÉ is the illustrator of more than twenty books for kids, and the recipient of several awards, including a Governor General’s Award for illustration in 2006 for The Big Monster Who Loved Reading Too Much, a New York Times book award, and many more. He divides his time between the Magdalen Islands and Montreal, Quebec.

Editorial Reviews

"Showcases the diverse perspectives of young immigrants... Small but mighty."

Quill & Quire

"It was amazing to read all the different places the students were coming from and trying to picture their experience."

Youth Services Book Review

"This collection can serve as a model for similar writing endeavors with immigrant communities or simply as a way for recent immigrants to process their own journeys."

Booklist

"Carry On not only gives the metaphorical microphone to those with lived experiences, but also reinforces the idea that an immigrant or refugee doesn’t look a certain way."

The Tiny Activist

03/01/2021

Gr 6 Up—In this haunting collection of poems and portraits, new students at a high school in Outremont, Quebec, share their experience of immigrating to Canada. This collection offers a compelling look at the lives and feelings of student immigrants who originate from countries including Ukraine, Iran, South Korea, Colombia, and the Phillippines. The poems capture worry, excitement, fear, joy, sadness, and the complexities of leaving one life for another. While the experience of leaving and beginning anew is the thread that ties the volume together, the emotions appear in different ways within each poem. Portraits rendered in muted colors accompany the verses, with detailed faces and piercing eyes. Girard explains that the goal of each portrait was to illuminate the light within each student. This book can be taught on its own, highlighted in an art class on portraiture, or paired in the classroom with a novel about the immigrant experience, such as When the Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed, Front Desk by Kelly Yang, or Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario. VERDICT A strong choice. Recommended for middle and high school libraries and classroom collections.—Lia Carruthers, Gill St. Bernard's Sch., Gladstone, NJ

School Library Journal

2021-03-02
A collection of poems written by immigrant students at the Paul-Gérin-Lajoie-D’Outremont high school, in Outremont, Quebec, Canada.

Originally published in French as Bagages—mon histoire, this Canadian import features 15 poems by young immigrants from many corners of the world: Moldova, Iran, South Korea, Israel, Philippines, Uruguay, Pakistan, China, Venezuela, and the United Arab Emirates. They are deeply personal and expressed in different ways. “Now I advance / Slashing my chrysalis,” declares Dohee Kim, from South Korea. “I have gained the future / I have lost the past,” reflects Hernan Farina Forster, from Uruguay. “Thank you, FaceTime / For showing me their tear-streaked faces / Even here in Canada,” writes Arad Panahi, from Iran. The poems are marked by very universal themes, predominantly sadness over the people and places left behind and uneasiness over what lies ahead. Alongside the poems are striking full-page portraits in muted sepia tones on cream-colored paper. While some of the portraits correspond with the author of the accompanying poem, most do not. It must be presumed they are portraits of other young immigrant students at the school, not included in this poetry anthology. The English title of the book plays on the double meaning of the phrase, expressing so simply what it means to be an immigrant. Immigrants are the sum total of the baggage they carry on with them as well as the future they forge as they carry on with their lives in their new country.

A sensitive and heartfelt voicing of the immigrant experience. (editor’s note, illustrator’s note) (Picture book/poetry. 10-15)

Kirkus Reviews