From comic strips with bi-weekly releases on the New York Times, Welcome to the new word has been adapted to become what now is a full-length book. Welcome to the New World by Jake Halpern and illustrations by Michael Sloan tells the true story of a refugee family who leaves Syria and moves to the United States in November 2016 to escape from the civil war.
As they arrive in the US, the news that Donald Trump has won the presidential election adds further uncertainty to their future in their new home.
Welcome to the New World | Plot
The author dedicates one entire chapter of the book to describe how life was in Syria for the family and which extreme situations they had to go through before making the decision to flee first to Jordan and then to the US. That chapter does an excellent job in putting the entire story into context and provides readers a different perspective on what refugees often have to go through.
Michael Sloan’s illustrations with shades of blue, to tell the events in progress, and with black and white for those passed in Syria, help the reader to contextualize the events.
Welcome to the New World won the Pulitzer Prize in 2020. It is the second graphic novel to ever win it (the first one was Maus by Art Spiegelman).
BONUS CONTENTS
- See other works by Michael Sloan.
- Read more about the author, Jake Halpern.
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