The Island

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The picture story book, The Island, by Armin Greder, shows the importance of accepting people for who they are. This can be seen when they gave no proper shelter and They didn’t give him any food or water. This is also shown when he didn’t look the same and They didn’t get to know him before they judged him.

Armin Greder’s acclaimed picture book The Island has been republished in the UK. It is lamentably relevant, with obvious parallels between the story and the plight of people migrating across the English Channel to our own island. And perhaps this is why, somehow, this already very hard-hitting book feels particularly haunting and punchy, reading it in 2022. Supporting students’ phonological awareness and phonics using the Response to Intervention (RTI) modelThe Island is a picture book definitely for older KS2. The themes within the book cover identity, inclusion and acceptance all within some harrowing illustrations. The pictures throughout the book could definitely provoke some deep class discussion as they aren't all nice, but rather creepy. The plot to the text surrounds an 'foreigner' who isn't accepted into society anyway whatsoever. All of the villagers have their reservations on accepting the individual who is different, they are also very prejudice about accepting the differences regarding the stranger. I honestly thought the story would end on a lighter note, however it followed a negative theme throughout the story. There were a few moments when they villagers seemed slightly accepting of the individual and his differences by providing him with opportunities and treating him like a human, but that didn't last long. One morning, the people of the island found a man on the beach, where fate and ocean currents had washed his raft ashore. When he saw them coming, he stood up.

When I started writing this I claimed this book was probably the most important picture book of recent times. I said this because increasingly in the media there are more and more reports about hostility between people, and more than often it is directed at those suffering from those in places of privilege. For example, in the UK, in some places by some people, there is a searing animosity towards refugees. Well, I was wrong to have said this. This is not probably the most important picture book of recent times. This is one of the most important books to have been released to date, I believe it is timeless, I believe this book can actually help us. While it sounds humanitarian, the ‘foreigner’ was never welcomed in the community. In fact, he was treated as an outcast, a pariah that the people would have to tolerate having in their midst. The farther away he is from the people, the safer they feel.

One of the things that worked for me in this picture book is how the harrowing portraits complement the range of emotions experienced (or imagined) by the characters in the story. As a psychologist, I am reminded of social psychology principles such as deindividuation and groupthink. The former shows a mob mentality as groups of people lose their individual sense of self-awareness and personal inhibitions as they tend to do things they would normally have not done on their own. Groupthink is quite similar in the sense that there is a tendency to minimize conflict in the group and an overemphasis on harmony (albeit unfounded) and a delusion that everyone feels the same way, thus, alternative courses of action are silenced.

A man, drawn naked and therefore appears to be vulnerable, washes up on the island and the people there are worried. However, they take him in, placing him in a goat pen and neglecting to feed them, yet still think they have done him a kindness. When they realise that they need to provide food for him they are outraged and decide to remove him from the island and punish the fisherman who convinced everyone else to help the man. They then build a wall around the island to prevent outsiders from ever finding them again. Similar to the book I reviewed yesterday for our Festival of Asian Literature and the Immigrant Experience theme, The Rabbits, this book by Armin Greder is also recommended to me by Librarian Extraordinaire Benjamin Farr from Tanglin Trust School. And what an awesome recommendation it turned out to be. Like The Rabbits, this picture book is a powerful masterpiece all its own. Dark and Sordid Fear of Foreigners. At the very core of this book is an overwhelming fear of those who are different. Similar to The Rabbits, the premise of the narrative is quite simple, the storytelling straightforward, the plot crystal clear with a continual build-up that puts a growing lump in the reader’s throat as one witnesses the extent of man’s unfounded rage and the many atrocities people tend to commit in the name of fear. This is not to say that I feel The Island does not belong in a primary classroom. This, and other books that reflect the bleak reality of our imperfect world, need to be there. But they should be guided by a confident, informed and empathic teacher, who can ensure the exploration is one that provokes thought rather than fear or despair. This may not be a good text to share in a class with children who have recently arrived – the reality is too real, and as teachers, unlike Greder, we should hold onto and talk about the world as it should be. These Islanders have being very un accepting of the Stranger by not giving a proper house or shelter “They took him to the uninhabited part of The Island” or “To a goat pen that had been empty …show more content…While most of the stories we have featured for our immigrant theme share narratives of assimilation and a renegotiation of one’s identity, this ‘foreigner’ was never given that opportunity to even feel remotely a sense of belonging. The ending was painful and tragic and leaves one with a sense of bated breath and a query in one’s head, “oh dear, that’s it?” Yet, in most cases, the truth is that, oftentimes it is all there is – thus the hate crimes, genocide, senseless murders – the darker shades of humanity as hauntingly portrayed in the illustrations of this powerful book. What happens to the fisherman I leave for you to discover. This illustration portrays the disturbing manner through which the children adopt the adults’ ways of being – searingly painful. Although the Islanders take the man 'in', they are unwilling to share their own resources and jobs, making the selfish nature of the people all the more prevalent. This can be seen as drawing a striking parallel with some attitudes shown towards refugees and migrants within the UK. Therefore, this is a critical text that should be used to consolidate a welcoming ethos within schools and towards different cultures and communities, so that they can prevent becoming 'The Island' My friend Alex passed me this book today and told me to read it, she also told me to emotionally prepare myself. I took the book over to my desk, sat down and did as she instructed. This was about twelve hours ago and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this story since. In his interview with Nikki Gamble for the Just Imagine, ‘In the Reading Corner’ podcast, Greder stated ‘I tell stories about the way the world is, not the world as it should be’. What a horrible reflection we see when we look in the mirror that Greder holds up for us here. The grocer refuses to feed him –‘We don’t have enough for everyone!’. The schoolteacher ‘lectures about savages and their strange ways’.