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  • The Journey

    “I look up to the birds that seem to be following us. They are migrating just like us. And their journey, like ours, is very long, but they don’t have to cross any borders.”

    What is it like to have to leave everything behind and travel many miles to somewhere unfamiliar and strange?
    A family sets out on such a journey; one filled with fear of the unknown, but also great hope.

    Published by Flying Eye Books in 2016, The Journey has been translated into more than 20 languages.

    48 pages | 27 × 23 cm | Hardback | 6 – 10 years

    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 NOTABLE CHILDREN’S BOOK OF 2017
    Selected for the 2017 USBBY Outstanding International Books List
    Included in CCBC choices 2017
    A The New York Times‘ Notable Children’s Book of 2016
    A Wall Street Journal’s Best Children’s Books of 2016
    A Publisher’s Weekly‘s Best Books of 2016
    A Kirkus Reviews‘ Best Picture Books of 2016
    A School Library Journal‘s 
    Best Picture Books of 2016
    A Guardian’s Best Children’s Books of 2016
    A New York Public Libary’s Best Book for Kids 2016

    “[Francesca Sanna’s artwork] is both realistic and fantastical, done in a striking, graphic style. “The Journey” will be a wonderful teaching tool for those who are welcoming refugees into their community.”
    – New York Times

    You can buy a signed copy of The Journey in my shop, or at your favorite local independent bookshop.

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  • ★"Given the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe and immigration debates in the U.S. and abroad, Sanna's story is well poised to spark necessary conversations about the costs of war." – Publishers Weekly, Starred Review ★"Simultaneously heartbreaking, scary, and brightly hopeful, this timely tale with simply captivating artwork will spur little ones to ask questions that lack easy answers." – Booklist, Starred review ★"A necessary, artful, and searing story." – Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review ★"Gorgeously stylized, spare and powerful" – Shelf Awareness, Starred Review ★"The crisp blend of realistic and fantastical illustrations in Sanna's debut picture book impart as much content and emotional depth as its carefully woven text narrated by an anonymous child. [...] Based on a compilation of immigrant interviews, this selection is timely and beautiful, appropriate for use with young children given the continuing situation of refugees around the world made particularly visible in recent years." – School Library Journal, Starred Review ★"Sanna's stylized illustrations, with gargantuan villains and swirling inky black, are both captivating and unsettling." – The Horn Book, Starred Review

© 2025 Frenci Sanna
Please do not reproduce without express written consent

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