posted on 12 Jan 2017

The Journey by Francesca Sanna

It is always pleasing to find another book for children about the subject of being a refugee and this one, endorsed by Amnesty International, is particularly poignant. This is a debut picture book by Francesca Sanna, an Italian illustrator and graphic designer who moved to Switzerland to follow her dream to work as an illustrator. The story is all too familiar and tells us how a peaceful and ordinary life can be fractured as a result of war which then means that a long and terrible journey is inevitable. The powerful messages of despair, loss, fear and enduring hope are conveyed through minimal text and dramatic, colourful illustrations.

The cover of the book provides an overview of the whole journey with a collage made up from some of the key illustrations that follow. The end papers are a stylised map that emphasise the long distance travelled and also hint at some of the experiences along the way.

The story begins with the beautifully composed depiction of a family living a carefree life in a city close to the sea using a pink, peach and white palette that helps to convey sweetness and innocence.  The blackness of the sea at the edge is not threatening at this point but on the turn of the page everything changes.

Now the blackness has become two huge stylized hands with sharp spikey fingers that smash and push against the calm – the war has begun. By the next page turn everything has become black with just a few fragments left of the previous colourful life because the father has been taken by the war.

Every page is a design delight but I particularly liked the detail and overall greenness of the two that show how books in the well- stocked and orderly family bookshelves can provide inspiration for a safe and peaceful destination. It is as if books can be relied on despite the destruction outside and help to prepare for reassuring strange experiences, as in fairy tales that will lead to happy endings. Having made the difficult decision to leave home, the long adventure begins. At first the family travels in a car and eventually, having shed most of their luggage they finally arrive at the border by foot.

The dramatic use of colour continues amplifying the fear and strangeness of the forest, but despite all this they are protected by their mother who is twice shown as an almost iconic religious figure wrapping her arms around them on facing pages as if to emphasise the strength of her protection.This is followed by one of the most powerful double page spreads with the huge bearded guards searching for them in the undergrowth on the right and then their escape across the left page. But the menacing darkness reappears when they are forced to pay a stranger to smuggle them across the border. And so they are forced to continue over the sea on an overcrowded ferry. Even in these desperate circumstances, stories sustain them and keep them feeling positive about the future.

One final journey in a red train against a green background for many days and nights spreads across the penultimate two pages. We see a flock of birds flying above the train and the last page shows the family flying with the birds to find a new safe home to ' begin our story again'.

I have looked closely at this beautiful book many times and every time I notice another detail. The concluding author's note explains that she wanted to create a collage of personal migration stories based around interviews she had carried out with people from many different countries. As the publisher’s publicity aptly describes: ‘Sanna’s crisp-edged, screenprint-like forms strike a careful balance between representing visceral dangers and offering tiny measures of hope’. She has done this magnificently.

 

Karen Argent

January 2017