Children learn from the moment they arrive into the world. Children’s books — even those meant for the youngest readers — can tackle mature issues ranging from civil rights to immigration.
To the Other Side explores the refugee story of a young brother and his older sister who travel together to make it across a border wall.
Erika Meza, an author and illustrator who grew up on the Tijuana-San Diego border, reframes the harrowing experience of immigration as a game for the two main characters.
To win, they must escape monsters to make it to the other side of the wall, where the promise of safety and freedom awaits.
The emotions of the two children and other characters in the book are portrayed and kept hidden by Mexican folk-style masks.
Meza said after listening to the stories of migrant children from a refugee camp in Tijuana, Mexico, she began to draw the masks as a source of protection.
“I was listening to very heartbroken, traumatized children. And what I wanted was to just draw them in the opposite way, to just draw them being innocent and playful and joyous,” she said. “And very quickly, they started to have masks on their faces.”
Meza said she wanted the story to find a balance between highlighting the harsh realities of immigration, while also handling those experiences with care.
“We didn't want to go into anything that was too exploitative of the experience that migrants and refugees go through,” she said. “At the same time, we did want to be grounded in reality. And that reality can be very horrifying for the kind of audience that we're speaking to.”
Scroll through the Twitter thread to see Meza’s early artwork and inspirations for the book.
IT IS PUBLICATION DAY!!!
— Erika Meza (@ErikaDraws) March 14, 2023
My brain is still struggling to comprehend that, from today, people will be able to open it and look at the images and words we worked for so long on, so I will share with you the behind the scenes over the next few days, on Insta and this thread. pic.twitter.com/OjHi2zth2Q
