Illegal

Title: Illegal

Author: Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin; Illustrated by Giovanni Rigano; Lettering by Chris Dickey

Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

ISBN: 9781492662143

Length: 122 + Creators' Note + "Journey: Helen's Story" Words by Helen as told to Women for Refugee Women + Sketchbook

Obtained: Library hardcover copy

Comments:

I placed a request for this the first time I saw it, but by the time it came in it was just one of many books waiting for me to get to it.  Then Sunday, I picked it up just to glance real quick.  Next thing I knew, I was running late.  I stopped reading long enough to go to bible class, started reading again briefly before heading into work (dragging myself away), and then continued/finished as soon as I was home.  In other words, I found myself quickly caught up in the story and eager to discover Ebo and his family's fate.

The story moves between Ebo's time traveling by sea and jumping backward to his travels prior to that, including through the desert.  Ebo is continuously looking for his siblings through the story, as they are trying to build a better life together.  This isn't the first refuge story I've read, and I'm sure it won't be the last.  However, there is something about the graphic novel format combined with the real risks and dangers so many people are taking to improve their lives and escape the dangers of their home country that made Ebo's story especially touching.