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shaun tan's picture books
I am currently in the process of reading Tales from the Inner City, one of Shaun Tan's picture books. It's a collection of 25 illustrated short stories, about (sort of) the relationship between urban environments and non-human animals and, also, humans.
Shaun Tan is an Australian who creates odd and beautiful books. I first came across him in the context of The Lost Thing, which is also an Oscar-winning short animation that I highly recommend seeking out.
A few days ago, elsewhere on a Dreamwidth, a call for prompts went out; I left a list, including shaun tan's picture books, and in exchange received a snippet of fic. At a recent party, one of my guests asked if anyone had recommendations for diverse children's books. Oooh, I said, and pulled all my Shaun Tan off the shelf.
It turns out my sense of what constitutes a reasonable children's book is slightly skewed.
They're not exactly for children, but they're not not for children, either.
They are beautiful and wistful and kind, sometimes in a distant sort of way. They are intricately detailed. They tell stories within stories within stories, in the text (where it exists) and in the art (which always does) and in the weaving in between. Some people seem to think they're unsettling; I find them soothing. They're complicated -- they're not going to give you an easy moral -- but they're peaceful, and they're generally fairly hopeful if you squint, and they are each of them a self-contained world or worlds that spread far beyond the pages that catalogue them, and invite exploration.
I love them dearly.
Shaun Tan is an Australian who creates odd and beautiful books. I first came across him in the context of The Lost Thing, which is also an Oscar-winning short animation that I highly recommend seeking out.
A few days ago, elsewhere on a Dreamwidth, a call for prompts went out; I left a list, including shaun tan's picture books, and in exchange received a snippet of fic. At a recent party, one of my guests asked if anyone had recommendations for diverse children's books. Oooh, I said, and pulled all my Shaun Tan off the shelf.
It turns out my sense of what constitutes a reasonable children's book is slightly skewed.
They're not exactly for children, but they're not not for children, either.
They are beautiful and wistful and kind, sometimes in a distant sort of way. They are intricately detailed. They tell stories within stories within stories, in the text (where it exists) and in the art (which always does) and in the weaving in between. Some people seem to think they're unsettling; I find them soothing. They're complicated -- they're not going to give you an easy moral -- but they're peaceful, and they're generally fairly hopeful if you squint, and they are each of them a self-contained world or worlds that spread far beyond the pages that catalogue them, and invite exploration.
I love them dearly.
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I was able to use his fabulous, wordless masterpiece, The Arrival when I was tutoring English language learners. It's magic.
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ETA: Eric could also be a good book for international ESL students doing courses in English speaking countries.