Silent Books: Final Destination Lampedusa (HWDSB)

In response to the waves of refugees from Africa and the Middle East arriving on the small Italian island of Lampedusa, the International Board on Books for Young People (through IBBY Italia) is working to establish the island’s first children’s library, to be used by young migrants and local children. To build the library’s collection, IBBY Italia gathered outstanding wordless picture books from 23 countries.

To showcase the library, Silent Books: Final Destination Lampedusa, an exhibit of more than 100 renowned wordless picture books, has been touring around the world. Following stops in Italy, Mexico and Austria, in Canada the Silent Books exhibit has travelled to Edmonton (August 28-September 18, 2015), Vancouver (October 1-22, 2015), Toronto (November 2-December 11, 2015) and Winnipeg (February 9-March 12, 2016). It is now making its final Canadian stop at three Hamilton locations from March 21-April 14, 2016.

These wordless picture books have a universal language of images and art, bypassing age, culture and language barriers, to offer readers a unique but shared reading experience.