Seven years in creation this beautiful illustrated book by award winning author and illustrator Tull Suwannakit is a coming of age story of resilience and hope. Told in a blend of graphic novel, picture book, and diary entries Higher Ground has a profoundly personal feel to it and although it deals with different subject matter reminds me a little of Shaun Tan’s The Arrival. Refreshingly different in style this would be a lovely book to share in primary schools.
Higher Ground opens with a storm and over two pages a deluge of rain is depicted. We turn the page to read that this has become a great flood and a grandmother, her two grandchildren and their pet rabbit are too late to escape from their block of flats. They learn to survive living on their rooftop garden, relying on scarce resources and limited space. Days turn into weeks, and weeks into months, but through life lessons and words of wisdom, hope emerges. As life continues the grandmother teaches the two children the importance of nurturing new life, seeds are planted, food is grown and they pick vegetables and fruit. This sustains them all and gradually they adapt to their circumstances coping with less and embracing the joy that can be found in small moments.
The format promotes deeper thought about the situation that this little family are in and there is much conveyed within the illustrations themselves. Emotions are portrayed beautifully and explicitly through the pictures. There is a range of styles adopted throughout with the occasional full page illustration have considerable impact. There a pages that are almost akin to a manual with instructions on tying knots, building a shelter and growing vegetables. However it is the illustrative strips that manage to portray the individual personalities so well that I found the most poignant. This is an affecting read. There comes a point when the children must move on alone and this lovely book is in many ways a wise guide to life and adapting to change and loss in its many forms.
This is most definitely a book to spend time over and to discuss. It introduces its young readers to many themes including sustainability and climate disaster but also offers hope in troubled times and a lesson in how to cope in adversity. The publishers are marketing Higher Ground as suitable for 5+ however I do think this is suitable for a wide age range and would be excellent shared in KS2 classrooms. Visually stunning and with emotion running though its text and illustrations this is lovely book. The publishers have created some teacher notes which you can download here.
Higher Ground was published in March by New Frontier Publishing and I should like to thank Phoebe Williams for my review copy.