In The Arrival, Tan draws upon his own family history of immigration to tell both a familiar and yet fantastical story of a journey into an alien landscape with new customs, new languages, and weird little creatures to boot.
Rendered in sepia tones and completely without words, The Arrival is unbelievably moving. At 128 pages, it is particularly well suited for older readers, and can serve as way for students to talk about their and their families' stories of immigration. This is the kind of book with which you need to take your time, so as to better appreciate how fully the power of wordless books and graphic novels is realized within its pages.