Can you name twelve synonyms for, or words related to, ESCAPE? LANTANA, 2021
(Take a moment to try.)
The authors of ESCAPE : One Day We Had To Run managed to do so, using those words to structure a dramatic nonfiction picture book on the topic. Ming & Wah wrote the text and Carmen Vela illustrated the dozen accounts of ESCAPE with a variety of colors and tones, with sweeping scenes and emotionally packed shadows and angles.
The twelve words they used as a table of contents?
CLING...DART...DEFY...DISGUISE...FLEE...FLY...PEDAL...RAFT...SPRINT...
STOWAWAY...SWIM...TUNNEL
Each of these launches a double page spread devoted to a single escape account spanning three centuries. Refugee stories in Western culture alone are timeless, going back to Moses parting the sea and even back to Adam and Eve being ejected from the Garden. Escaping persecution, trauma, unlivable condition, war, and expulsion is a human conditions that has occurred as long as there have been humans. The authors share twelve dramatic, actual events that reveal a wide range of people, causes, times, and places.
Each double spread treatment uses the featured word, followed by a line or two. That, and a page of explanatory narrative, sprawl across an illustration that exposes and expands the harrowing accounts described. The first example is
CLING: Syria to Greece, 2015.
DON'T LET GO. HOLD TIGHT. NEVER GIVE UP.
The last steps to safety for two girls traveling with family and more in an overloaded boat takes them from Turkey to Greece. To avoid swamping the boat, the girls CLING to the sides of the boat, propelling and guiding it to their destination despite extreme cold and being ignored by passing boats. I particularly appreciated how often the refugees were described in years following their escapes, revealing their successes and contributions the their receiving nations.
These 2015 escapes were current events and came back to me in reading them here, although other accounts were more distant memories or even unknown. For example, DISGUISE: Scotland to France, 1745, is the account of Bonnie Prince Charles who, having failed to secure the British crown, fled for his life to France. Yes, disguised as a hooded woman. The remainder of his life was spent in various disguises as he fled and hid throughout Europe.
The illustrations capture the tone and settings of each true journey with minimal figures, perspectives, geographic elements, and varied tones and depths. Opening and ending spreads were particularly helpful. The book concludes with the brief text from the UNIVERSAL DECLARATiON OF HUMAN RIGHTS, Article 13 and 14. Freedom, emigration, and asylum in safe countries are broadly agreed upon rights of every human, and yet societies and power groups make such journeys futile, or tenuous at best. Immigration and asylum claims are treated as current or even recent problems when every one of us knows this is not true.
This book helps to share the global and timeless experiences of such desperate escapes. The opening spread helps in that, offering a minimalist double spread global map. The expanse of water as our planet's dominant feature is evident, and map details are few, allowing readers to note the twelve migrations indicated across our shared geography. In addition, the suggestion of an eastern sun and western crescent moon emphasis the passing of time during these journeys, and a subtle suggestion of the northern and southern jet streams suggest the never-ending forces of tides and winds and weather.
Overall, this collection of escape stories provides perspective on the truth about human escape and need for safe harbor. It will be invaluable in classrooms, homes, and libraries when shared with children, ranging from young to teen. It also offers adults a chance to step away from headlines and recognize the WHO and WHY of current refugees and of our own personal and social histories. After all, the PILGRIMS cam as a persecuted group, seeking a new home.
It could happen to any of us again.
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