Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin (text), and Giovanni Rigano (illustrator), Global, Hachette Children’s Books, April 2023, 144 pp., RRP $32.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781444951912
Global focuses on Sami and his grandpa, who live in a little village alongside the Indian Ocean, and make their life, and their living, by fishing. But trouble soon begins when their fishing brings in fewer fish – meaning less food and less money for the family and village. Thanks to the rising ocean, the problem doesn’t seem to be solved anytime soon.
In a different world altogether is Yuki, in Canada, where the hot sun is melting ice. In Yuki’s town, polar bears are becoming common as they wander looking for food, thanks to their habitat melting. Yuki sets out, just like Sami, to try and help the polar bears and restore peace to the town.
And then, a cyclone soon hits and their two worlds will be impacted and their lives intertwined, even if Sami and Yuki don’t know it yet.
This graphic novel is a mighty story, brimming with powerful themes and imagery, characters facing cataclysmic challenges, and it is a gripping read start to finish. The co-authors and illustrator weave a story filled with tension, drama, emotions, and power (the visuals, the graphic illustrations, are particularly well done and add a lot of the excitement to the dialogue of the story).
The art is very vivid and captures Suki and Sami’s exotic worlds wonderfully. To see the fear and anger and other emotions expressed in the character’s faces in the panels of the story brings extra layers of characterisation forward, expanding upon the dialogue and text of the book. Giovanni Rigano’s art is superb.
One particular moving and powerful point to this book is that, by showing the two different locations Suki and Sami live in, it highlights that no matter where in the world, climate changes make an impact and affect all, even if the effects don’t all look the same.
Especially topical and relevant in today’s world, Global is reminiscent of classic action-adventure stories like The Call of the Wild or Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet, as it is a truly gripping tale of ‘man vs. nature’.
This would be a welcome addition to school libraries as young readers 7-11 would enjoy it immensely.
Reviewed by Brenton Cullen