They should be treated with the same respect that is extended to citizens and visitors alike” (npg).

They deserve recognition for an honest day’s labour. Trottier makes it clear in her explanation that she wanted to write this story to bring issues of social justice to the surface: “Migrants deserve safe working and living conditions. However, taking the paratext into context, Migrant tells a unique story opening readers and listeners to a different way of life, clearly not linked to just specifically Mennonite migrant workers, but migrant or seasonal workers in general. The book could have perhaps benefited from more context being worked into the main text, or, the explanation that ends the book may have been better utilized opening the book. Though Anna briefly explains her family moves from the south to north and back again (through the metaphor of her family being like geese), we are not told the south is Mexico and the north is Canada. In the main text there is no mention of her family being Mennonite, though they do wear traditional Mennonite clothing. The picturebook’s text and images are filled with Anna comparing her life to various animals: she feels like a jack rabbit who live in abandoned burrows she feels like a bee during the day at night she is like a kitten snuggled under a single blanket with her sisters (For any teachers out there, this book could be a perfect tool in teaching simile, metaphor, and/or illustrated metaphor to students). Without the write-up on the hardcover flaps, and the short history lesson on the endpapers, few children or adult readers would know what the book is actually historically addressing. What Wallace and I Think: Migrant is an ideal example of how important paratext often is with picturebooks. Trottier argues that “We all need to remember just how our country was built,” (npg) and it can only be assumed that Trottier hopes to remind us of this history through the picturebook Migrant. There is no union to protect these migrant workers, and they are often not well received by employers or communities. The houses that are available for rent are shabby and expensive. Often, because their first language is Low German, they cannot understand English or Spanish. Maxine Trottier explains that people like Anna’s family helped to build Canada and the United States (and continue to), and that they live difficult lives. Anna often wonders what it would be like to stay in one place. Her Mennonite family lives in Mexico during the winter, and travels all the way up to Canada in the summer to work on farms harvesting fruit and vegetables. The Story: Anna feels like a bird because her family moves north in the spring and south in the fall. Written by Maxine Trottier, Art by Isabelle Arsenault

Migrant by Maxine Trottier