Refugee: The Graphic Novel
This is the graphic novel version of Refugee, which I reviewed for the HNR (August 2017). Three young protagonists flee war and violence: Josef leaves 1938 Germany for Cuba; Isabel leaves 1994 Cuba for the United States; and Mahmoud leaves 2015 Syria for Germany. Each travels with their family, seeking a safe place to live, and experiences hardships and loss.
Like the original, the graphic novel is action-packed with cliffhangers. The story switches between protagonists, which worked well in the prose version but is confusing in this version. Although the graphic novel has maintained the conflict, it has lost the development of characters and settings. It is difficult to remember all the characters, as each of the three protagonists has a full array of people around them. For example, Mahmoud’s younger brother, Waleed’s character is profoundly moving in the original, and in the graphic novel I almost forgot he existed.
The illustrator does an excellent job of showing character emotion and the parts of the setting that can be shown visually. The images are informative and sometimes exciting and intense. However, the elements of a setting that are difficult to portray graphically, such as politics and culture, are not as well explained. This may be a good choice for teaching reluctant readers about the plight of refugees, but it falls far short of the prose novel. Ages 9 to 12.
