Migrations: Open Hearts, Open Borders: The Power of Human Migration and the Way That Walls and Bans Are No Match for Bravery and Hope

by ICPBS, Various (Illustrator)

Overview

In a show of strength for migrants during a daunting time, more than fifty artists from around the world have created postcard images of birds, along with messages of hope. Featuring an introduction by Shaun Tan.

From Mexico City's Natalia Gurovic comes a jewel-toned bird opposite the words “From up here I see no borders.” From P.J. Lynch comes a seabird with the artist’s personal wish for a safe journey and an openhearted welcome. From Argentinian illustrator Isol comes a child borne aloft on a bird below the words “Life is movement.” From Jon Klassen, a sparrow, familiar and extraordinary. Sending a powerful message about human migration, more than fifty artists created postcards for the Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava 2017, curated by the International Centre for the Picture Book in Society. From South Africa and Sweden, Chile and the Czech Republic, Iran and Indonesia — more than twenty-five countries in all — their images and words are now gathered into a stunning keepsake volume.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536209617
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	10/08/2019
Pages:	112
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 7.20(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

Editorial Reviews

The brief, poetic messages and illustrations beam with encouragement. They collectively highlight the universality of the traveling experience, acknowledge loss, and find and seed hope in a better time to come...This small but powerful book definitely succeeds in this aim and will appeal to readers from migrant and host communities alike, young and old. A timely and heartening work.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

From the Publisher

11/15/2019

Gr 2–5—In 2017, the International Centre for the Picture Book in Society hosted an exhibition called Migrations. This book is a continuation of that original exhibit. Within its pages, dozens of authors and illustrators from around the world share postcards and pictures featuring birds and migrations as a critique on the current strife regarding borders around the globe. Some postcards offer short poems or messages about hope, kindness, history, and open borders. Each postcard and accompanying illustration show how the author or illustrator feels about migration, all while staying true to their personal style. Some of the handwriting on the postcards can be difficult to read, but words have been put into a legible font underneath the picture of the postcard. Readers are now able to see the Migrations exhibit for themselves and to bring that exhibit with them to start conversations about open borders and what that means around the world. VERDICT A very good resource to start a conversation about migration with children, and to show how the world can come together.—Margaret Kennelly, iSchool at Urbana-Champaign, IL

School Library Journal

★ 2019-07-24
This inspiring and soothing book is the fruition of an exhibit of the same title, featuring postcards sent by more than 50 children's-book illustrators from around the world to express solidarity with today's migrants.

Each postcard is a work of art; many are submitted by award-winning illustrators. Most feature birds in flight coupled with excerpts of poetry or words of encouragement: A flying ostrich does the impossible; a swallow flies across a field of gray and reveals spring behind her; six humorous bird busts accompany a message to "Fly high!"; an albatross "holds in its eye the storm / And … / The small green island of its home"—a message says that where we go becomes part of us. The brief, poetic messages and illustrations beam with encouragement. They collectively highlight the universality of the traveling experience, acknowledge loss, and find and seed hope in a better time to come. The book is organized around themes of "departures," "long journeys," "arrivals," and "hope for the future." A preface by Shaun Tan highlights the power and responsibility of spreading hope through works that talk to the imagination. This small but powerful book definitely succeeds in this aim and will appeal to readers from migrant and host communities alike, young and old.

A timely and heartening work. (Picture book. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews