… we will find a new home. A home where we can be safe and begin our story again.” There is no geographic specificity stated, but the journey from western Asia to Europe is implied in an account that includes tense moments of hiding, a secret border crossing, a crowded ferry, and travel by train beneath free-flying birds across many more borders in search of safety—a need that all children can understand. (Ages 5–9)

The initial seaside image is sunny, but darkness reaches out as a young person describes leaving the city along with mother and sibling because of a war that had taken their father. They travel by car, then in the back of other vehicles, and the children even ride in a cart being pulled by the mother on bicycle. It is dark when they come to a border with angry guards. They run, hide, and finally arrange to cross a body of water by boat. After more borders, they are finally on a train, in a place where it is light, with birds... and hope.

Winner of the 2017 Ezra Jack Keats New Author Honor and New Illustrator Honor Awards, Selected as an ALSC Notable Children's Book of 2017, 2017 USBBY Outstanding International Book list, Included in CCBC Choices 2017, A The New York Times Notable Children's Book of 2016, A Wall Street Journal Best Children's Books of 2016, A Publisher's Weekly Best Books of 2016, A Kirkus Reviews' Best Picture Books of 2016, A School Library Journal Best Picture Books of 2016, A Guardian Best Children's Books of 2016, A New York Public Library Best Books for Kids 2016, An All The Wonders Best Picture Books of 2016, A Let's Talk Picture Books Best Picture Books of 2016, A Chickadee Lit Picture Books to Celebrate Kindness.

Author/illustrator is from Sardinia and lives in Switzerland.

London, U.K.. Originally published in London, U.K. by Flying Eye Books in 2016. Published in the United States by Nowbrow in 2016.

". . . a wonderful teaching tool for those who are welcoming refugees into their community."—The New York Times

With haunting echoes of the current refugee crisis this beautifully illustrated book explores the unimaginable decisions made as a family leave their home and everything they know to escape the turmoil and tragedy brought by war. This book will stay with you long after the last page is turned.

From the author: The Journey is actually a story about many journeys, and it began with the story of two girls I met in a refugee center in Italy. After meeting them I realized that behind their journey lay something very powerful. So I began collecting more stories of migration and interviewing many people from many different countries. A few months later, in September 2014, when I started studying a Master of Arts in Illustration at the Academy of Lucerne, I knew I wanted to create a book about these true stories. Almost every day on the news we hear the terms "migrants" and "refugees" but we rarely ever speak to or hear the personal journeys that they have had to take. This book is a collage of all those personal stories and the incredible strength of the people within them.