Title: Higher Ground
Author and Illustrator: Tull Suwannakit
Publisher: New Frontier
Publication date: March 13, 2025
Themes: Climate change, family, intergenerational relationships, sustainability, hope
Comprehensive teachers’ notes are available on the New Frontier website here
Higher Ground by Tull Suwannakit and published by New Frontier is a powerful story about two brave children with their wise grandmother and pet rabbit overcoming adversity in the aftermath of a great flood. It is told with sparse text and rich, utterly stunning immersive visual storytelling. This is a hybrid text and includes graphic novel elements, diary/journal pages, narrative and one chapter is wordless, to savour the details in the illustrations.
The children, grandmother and rabbit survive for months on a rooftop garden, using the produce they grow to sustain them. The grandmother teaches the children life skills, lessons in sustainable practices, how and when to grow foods, about the different seasons and the beauty and power of nature. She instils in them values relating to a strong work ethic, the value of family, resilience, courage, discipline, patience, resourcefulness, adopting a positive mindset and demonstrates to her grandchildren that challenging times can be an opportunity to learn and grow.
Her wisdom and teachings she imparts, gifts the children a profound legacy to support them to flourish and help others.
This is a stunning hardcover book to experience and it will tap into the reader’s full gamut of emotions. I certainly shed tears, felt fear and was in awe of this family and inspired by their resilience, tenacity and hope. The intriguing cover is captivating with collage work containing objects, precious items and memories, each has their own story to unpack and complement the themes in the book. The glorious double page spreads reminiscent of treasured journal pages document visually the knowledge the grandmother shares with the children. These pages include observations, recipes, diagrams and processes and steps to complete a task. The details in the illustrations, some whimsical, is at times breathtaking and entice the reader to linger on every page absorbing more layers of the story.
This is a moving story about sustainability, growth, hope, unbreakable intergenerational bonds, acceptance, being displaced and starting over. It is a stunning and indelible example of light, love and beauty not only existing, but shining in a time of adversity.