Welcome to the New World

“Welcome to the New World is a reported work that follows a family of Syrian refugees who arrive in America on the eve of Donald Trump’s election. This real-life story is remarkable for many reasons, including the groundbreaking context of its publication . . . An engaging narrative between covers that offers an even more intimate look at the Aldabaan family’s struggles, both personal and bureaucratic, to make their lives work in America . . . Welcome to the New World treats Naji—sensitive, charismatic and complicated—with the most care and attention, presenting a truly multifaceted character; it reveals, more than halfway through, a moving back story that takes place in Homs, Syria, in 2011, which explains his often remarked upon maturity. The narrative succeeds in part because of its slow reveal; readers connect with the family members as personalities before we begin to see the miseries of their past. Sloan and Halpern deliver a story that fully inhabits its comics form, and breathes with an easy visual elegance.”—Hillary Chute, The New York Times Book Review

"For the Aldabaans, a Syrian refugee family, the path to the American Dream has begun with mortgage on a house in suburban Connecticut—one with a grassy backyard and room for bikes and birds . . . The challenges the family faced along the way are told in a powerful and moving new graphic novel Welcome to the New World . . . Looking through the pages of Halpern's book, recounting their experience in intimate detail, the family is reminded of surprising terrors along the way."—Deborah Amos, NPR

"Welcome to the New World could not have come at a better time. Deceptively simple and direct, it’s a perfect antidote to the suspicion and xenophobia that threatens this country’s rich tradition of immigration. The Aldabaans lived through a distant war, but they are utterly relatable, and therein lies this book’s great success."—Barry Blitt, cartoonist and illustrator, The New Yorker

"Jake Halpern and Michael Sloan’s story of a Syrian family trying to resettle in America is powerful and moving . . . Its granular, journalistic approach does take you to places rarely imagined in terms of the refugee experience–and in this sense, at least, their narrative is truly thought-provoking.”—Rachel Cooke, The Guardian

"Such a gripping story, filled with heartbreak and hope, about a family in search of the elusive dream that is America in the age of Trump. It reminds us that behind words like 'refugee' and 'immigrant' are ordinary people, beautiful in their complexity, diverse in their experiences, with stories that must be told."—R.J. Palacio, author of Wonder and White Bird

"Our country tends to view refugees as a faceless group of either pitiable victims or job-stealing strangers. Jake Halpern and Michael Sloan have zoomed in very, very close on a single family that we truly get to know. It is impossible to read this moving book without caring about the Aldabaans. In these polarized times, that is a gift of incomparable value."—Anne Fadiman, author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

"Deeply reported and beautifully told, Welcome to the New World is the story of our time—immigration to America—seen through the eyes of one Syrian family who will make you understand the trials and delights, day by day, behind the fog of headlines."—Emily Bazelon, author of Charged

"Welcome to the New World is a project of the greatest humanity and care. Kudos to the authors for their profound artistry and for listening and sharing these stories with such detailed attention. As the child of a Palestinian refugee, I hear the truth of my father's life and so many others echoing here—the utter bravery, the endless hope. Americans need this book to help them understand the sorrow that makes people leave their homeland, the hardships they face, and the resilient dreams they never stop carrying."—Naomi Shihab Nye, Young People's Poet Laureate and author of Habibi

"By turns heartbreaking and amusing, Welcome to the New World shows the bittersweet life the Aldabaans left behind and the pressure put on them to become independent within months of their arrival . . . This is journalism at its finest."—Booklist (starred review)