Read this when
The Arrival
Moved somewhere new and even the food looks like a puzzle? The Arrival gets it, no words needed. 🧳
Who it's for
Because the book has no words, the reader experiences exactly what the man does: an alphabet you can't read, unknown food, strange creatures, processes nobody explains.
Lonely→Hopeful
Feelings it meets
What it is
The Arrival is a wordless graphic novel by author-illustrator Shaun Tan, first published in 2006 by Lothian Books. An unnamed man leaves his wife and daughter to escape an unspecified danger in his homeland and emigrates alone to a strange new country.
Where to find it
In print (Lothian in Australia, Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic in the US; Hodder in the UK) and in libraries. No audio edition, as it is wordless.
Before you start
Heads up: War, bodies and forced displacement.
Age: Ages 9+
Between me and the other world there is ever an unasked question:W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk
