Higher Ground by Tull Suwannakit

You will need to set aside some time to read this intriguing book. The book begins with an enormous flood. Two children and their grandmother (and pet rabbit) are left stranded. No one is coming to help but the grandmother has years of wisdom and she knows how to use their scarce supplies to survive. She shows the children how to plant seeds to grow food, how to gather water, build a shelter, how to catch and prepare fish, how to use fire for cooking and warmth and most of all she gives the children hope. For nearly 200 days the group survive but the grandmother is growing frail. We watch the seasons change and we see their daily activities through a series of wordless spreads. Eventually the children decide to build a raft. This is the part that broke me heart - the children set off to find other people and they leave their grandmother behind. She tells the children she cannot make the journey, she needs to stay behind and tend their garden but they should know she will always be with them in their hearts.

I expect to see this book listed for many 2026 awards - and it is sure to be a CBCA (Children's Book Council of Australia) notable in the Younger Readers category. 

Publisher blurb: After a great flood swallows their city, a wise grandmother, her two grandchildren, and their pet rabbit find themselves stranded on the only safe place left—the rooftop of their home. With nothing but their small garden and a handful of supplies, they must learn to survive in a world where the familiar streets have turned to endless water. Days turn into weeks, and weeks into months, as they face hunger, storms, and the uncertainty of what lies beyond the horizon. But through each hardship, the grandmother shares words of wisdom, teaching her grandchildren the power of resilience, kindness, and hope. As their garden grows, so too does their belief that even in the darkest times, life finds a way forward. Higher Ground serves as both a warning and a call to action for future generations, urging readers to honor and protect the environment before it’s too late. Told through beautifully illustrated panels, this dystopian middle-grade graphic novel is a powerful meditation on survival, family, and the delicate balance between humanity and nature.

Here are some brief teachers notes from the publisher. 

It is my hope that Higher Ground will encourage young readers to reflect on their own connections to nature, the importance of family values, and the fragile world around them. In a world that is constantly changing, these qualities are more important than ever. Perhaps the story’s central themes of hope, growth and resilience, could offer readers a meaningful outlook to a more empathetic world we live in. Tull Suwannakit (Federation of Children's Book Groups)

I am not a fan of endorsements (as you may know) but there are some interesting names here:

Image source: Tull Suwannakit

Tull Suwannakit talks about his work here. 

Higher Ground is highly visual, with 14 short chapters, and plenty of light and shade in both story and pictures, making it difficult to ascribe to an ideal reader. It is pitched for ages 5+, but this is the sort of immersive, cross-genre, layered storytelling that will captivate readers of many ages, in many different ways. Storylinks

Here is a detailed and insightful interview with Joy Lawn at Paperbark Words. Here is a review from The Bottom Shelf. 

Embracing such themes as home, belonging, loss, grief, refugees, self-sufficiency and the consequences of climate change, this is a book that deserves to be widely read at home and in classrooms. Red Reading Hub

In this age of global warming and climate change books there are many books now that explore the consequences of catastrophic flooding. 

Please try to find this book to read after (or before) High Ground. 

Water, Water

And for older readers I highly recommend this book:

Across the Risen Sea

Other books I have talked about here by Tull Suwannakit:

Happy Hoppy Home

Heart and Soul