Are you all tired about hearing about this book? Are you wishing I would stop mentioning it? Well today is your lucky day. This is the last day I will reference this book. At least for a little while.There is good reason though that it was the most anticipated book I have had in a while. I had read a review of it early last year and decided that I had to own it. I love Shaun Tan....Love!. His work has such an incredible mix of absurdity and darkness and fantasy that I find it irresistable. So when I found out about his new book I rushed to Amazon to buy it. Sadly I ordered it along with a book on paper engineering. To save a tree or two I had them shipped together. I ordered both of them in January and still hadn't received them by March. I would come home each day with the same type of pleading look that children get when expecting Christmas presents. I would ask Jeff each day, "Books?", with my little chin quivering. No books. So I finally went into Amazon and found out that the paper engineering book was holding things up. I canceled that and Tales was sent the next day.
This book is bizarre, thought-provoking, and strange. It contains fifteen little stories about the suburbs but not the suburbs most of us are used to. There is the very popular story of Eric, about a shy foreign exchange student who visits a family and leaves his own unique thank you gift. There is the story of the dogs that come to watch a house fire, and take revenge on the cruel owner. There is the story of poetry that no one reads, which bands together to form a ball and roam the city until the rains come. These are simple stories with wonderful illustrations that make me think. The often horrific story of the Stick People who wander suburbia and often bring down the neighbors wrath. The wonderfully touching story of a turtle rescue which almost made me choke up a little. And my favorite and perhaps the longest, a great story of a scavenger hunt that cements a marriage.
Shaun Tan hooks you from the first page. His table of contents are made up of stamps bearing an image from each of the stories. With his unique illustration style you feel drawn into the book. Tan is simply one of the best illustrators out there. His drawing mix realistic imagery with cartoon characters. He starts the book with a simple story about a very wise water buffalo. Similar to The Lost Thing, also by Tan, this book reminds us to look a little closer at our familar surroundings. The bushes may lead to a secret garden, the stick may have a life of its own, and the sea or the edge of civilization may be closer than we think. All of the stories in this book are different. They are told in different styles, from free verse to newspaper clipping to advertisement. All of the images are strickingly different and all leave you with a different emotion. This will be a wonderful book to go back to when I need a little pick me up. I can open to any story and just enjoy. Well worth the wait.
This book is bizarre, thought-provoking, and strange. It contains fifteen little stories about the suburbs but not the suburbs most of us are used to. There is the very popular story of Eric, about a shy foreign exchange student who visits a family and leaves his own unique thank you gift. There is the story of the dogs that come to watch a house fire, and take revenge on the cruel owner. There is the story of poetry that no one reads, which bands together to form a ball and roam the city until the rains come. These are simple stories with wonderful illustrations that make me think. The often horrific story of the Stick People who wander suburbia and often bring down the neighbors wrath. The wonderfully touching story of a turtle rescue which almost made me choke up a little. And my favorite and perhaps the longest, a great story of a scavenger hunt that cements a marriage.Shaun Tan hooks you from the first page. His table of contents are made up of stamps bearing an image from each of the stories. With his unique illustration style you feel drawn into the book. Tan is simply one of the best illustrators out there. His drawing mix realistic imagery with cartoon characters. He starts the book with a simple story about a very wise water buffalo. Similar to The Lost Thing, also by Tan, this book reminds us to look a little closer at our familar surroundings. The bushes may lead to a secret garden, the stick may have a life of its own, and the sea or the edge of civilization may be closer than we think. All of the stories in this book are different. They are told in different styles, from free verse to newspaper clipping to advertisement. All of the images are strickingly different and all leave you with a different emotion. This will be a wonderful book to go back to when I need a little pick me up. I can open to any story and just enjoy. Well worth the wait. 
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