When HOME Is No Longer HOME

Anchoring this in time: Covid 19 SaferAtHome
May has arrived, which means the current physical distancing and masking and reports of escalating losses and cracks in the health system are moving into week eight, day 50+.
But who's counting?
For the many who now view "home" through a drastically altered lens, it remains a place for drawing close to those who, by their presence, define a living space as HOME.
In contrast to the cries to "OPEN UP", having a safe home in which to shelter is not a choice for millions of people. As the health crisis absorbs the bulk of our attention, personal and public focus have shifted away from places in crisis (war zones, displaced person- and refugee- camps, impoverished communities, and those lacking essential health services).
Here's a story to help us remember that, and appreciate what we have.

Flyaway Books, 2020

A new picture book, CROCODILE'S CROSSING: A Search for HOME, reveals that staying home is not always a choice, but HAVING a home may not be a choice we can make for ourselves. Written and illustrated by YOERI SLEGERS, this recent release blends recognizable global spaces with human attitudes and issues and emotions regarding a surprising central character: Crocodile. 
Questions arise on the cover, continue throughout each spread, and resonate with an essential question on the back cover. 
This engaging and hopeful tale is a parable for our modern world. Crocodile's colorful cover image brightly hints at his isolation and desperate journey, including continental geo-markers and, if you look closely, a lurking shark.  Then endpapers instantly imply the stark reality of Crocodile's situation, overlaying global maps slashed with random arrows and routes, evidence of attempts launched and halted sporadically and unsuccessfully. 
My reaction to this effective shift in tone was the thought: Where IS home?

The title and credits spread reveals Crocodile fishing to survive, alone, in a makeshift vessel of hope. I was especially taken with the thought that his natural traits (those many sharp teeth, for example) were not softened, yet his expressive eyes, body language, and circumstances made me care about him.
The first page turn echoes the cover but provides a more ominous perspective: a vivid awareness of his failure to find a safe harbor, more sharks, and a pulled-back perspective that isolates him even further. And yet the opening text of that first page reveals his resilient nature:

"Crocodile was on his way. 

He was tired. Scared. Hopeful.

Everything will be better

where I'm going, he thought.

But where is that?"

Throughout this and every page that follows the minimal text is suffused with charm and wit, despite Crocodile's escalating struggles. Nuanced and detailed illustrations confirm that Crocodile's original home was once a safe and sociable place, until "trouble" suddenly makes it unsafe, threatening life and limb. With a sad farewell and wearing a red backpack, Crocodile is forced to seek a new HOME. Within the space of a few pages and words, his search is rejected, his identity assaulted, and his intentions are challenged. His resources depleted, his empty nights are filled with dreams of the home he left behind. 

Then the mice discover him.

Interior: Crocodile's Crossing: A Search for Home (Flyaway Books)

I particularly loved this aspect of the story: this is not one compassionate mouse pulling a thorn from a lion's paw, but an advanced community of mice who recognize a wandering soul in need of a home. (By the way, the pages with mice provide an open invitation to explore each and every little mouse, their expressions, roles, and relationships to the others.)

I've already revealed far too much, but I hope you trust my promise that the ending is satisfying on every level. There is nothing about it that is trite, but everything about it is universal. 

The subtitle, A Search for Home, says it all. 

This is an entertaining story with delightful characters and visual appeal. The essential theme elevates it from general appeal to a book of lasting value. We can all learn something from Crocodile and the community of mice who recognized and empathized with another creature in need. 

Even one with very sharp teeth. 

Even when the seeker didn't look anything like them.

Insert one adjective into that essential rhetorical question from the back cover: 

"What happens when MY home can't be home anymore?"