by Shaun Tan (Author) Shaun Tan (Illustrator)
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There isn't really a bad time to win an Academy Award, but Shaun Tan's timing is impeccable. His animated short film, The Lost Thing, picked up an Oscar just as the book upon which it was based returns to print in this collection. The three stories within--The Red Tree, The Lost Thing, and The Rabbits--were previously published (separately) in Australia and made available in the U.S. by Simply Read Books (PW gave starred reviews to all three stories). This compilation also incorporates new background and notes on each from Tan (and, for The Rabbits, from John Marsden, the author of that story). With glowing critical receptions for The Arrival and Tales from Outer Suburbia, Tan's career had already been ascendant before his Oscar night success, and this offering should only further raise his profile. All ages. (Mar.)
Copyright 2011 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.Gr 4 Up--Three previously published stories collected into one volume, all illustrated by the amazing Tan. "The Red Tree" follows a solitary girl through a single, not very good day, exploring her feelings as they shift from disappointment and confusion to alienation and despair. The spare, lyrical text provides an anchor for Tan's large, moody, beautiful paintings. "The Lost Thing" is a more upbeat tale of a boy who discovers an unusual object and then must decide what to do with it. Freedom and imagination are the themes in this story, and here the art includes fascinating and sometimes humorous bits of technical drawings. The prose of John Marsden's "The Rabbits," an allegory about imperialism, is so simple and melodic that it verges on poetry. The artist emphasizes the invasive foreignness of the rabbits by dressing them in baroque uniforms, drawing mystifying, gigantic machines and buildings for them to build and deploy in their inexorable drive to dominate. It's like The War of the Worlds enacted by terrestrial mammals. The largeness of the landscapes and the scarcity of text in these stories give readers' own imaginations room to stretch--they are undeniably strange, emotionally diverse, and unsettling. Certain kids will return to this book again and again.--Paula Willey, Baltimore County Public Library, Towson, MD
Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.