Illegal: current events as powerful story

Awards: named on Amazon list for best graphic novels of 2018


From the Publishers:

A powerfully moving graphic novel by New York Times bestselling author Eoin Colfer and the team behind the Artemis Fowl graphic novels that explores the current plight of undocumented immigrants.

Ebo is alone. His brother, Kwame, has disappeared, and Ebo knows it can only be to attempt the hazardous journey to Europe, and a better life—the same journey their sister set out on months ago.

But Ebo refuses to be left behind in Ghana. He sets out after Kwame and joins him on the quest to reach Europe. Ebo's epic journey takes him across the Sahara Desert to the dangerous streets of Tripoli, and finally out to the merciless sea. But with every step he holds on to his hope for a new life, and a reunion with his family.

My Thoughts:

The only think I know about Eoin Colfer is through his graphic novels of his series Artemis Fowl. I have used his graphic novels to push reluctant readers into his books, but I have not actually read his books. What I do know is that there is a mixed reaction to his graphic novels by readers that have read his books, mostly around the way that Giovanni Rigano depicts the title character and other familiar characters to readers of the series. 

For these fans, their disappointment is similar to my disappointment to movie versions of books. They cut out large pieces of plot that I think are important, or like Scarlet Letter with Demi Moore as Hester Prynne, the writers completely changed the ending and turned Hawthorne's moral tale into a romance with the lovers riding off into the sunset. I also find it frustrating when the casting is all off. I still have an issue with the casting of Peta from the Mockingjay series, but this is not a graphic novel based off a book. 

This is Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin and Giovanni Rigano using current events to tell a human story, an original story that is both fiction and truth. The decisions that they make to draw out the helicopter scene, the underwater scenes, the way they are almost creating a documentary and using time as a cliff hanger is powerful. It makes us wonder. Where is the end of the tunnel? Who is holding the light to guide us out? Why does the chasm between those who are living to survive and those who are living to thrive continue to get larger?

The trio does not offer solutions. But they do make noise. Add this to the list of graphic novels that have a political agenda to educate. Now as educators, how do we help our students to not just be educated or "woke" but do something with that understanding.