Paul and I were talking about this book (we both read it) and how is it YA? Adult? I feel like all his books fall into that category of sophisticated and interesting storytelling and art that is not for a particular age and who wouldn’t like them?
Just like his other books (The Arrival, Lost and Found, and The Lost Thing) this is a visual story, actually stories. It’s a collection of bizarre little stories from “outer suburbia” in Australia. Some, like how to build a pet out of a discarded object, are just one page, but others are a couple pages long. My favorites were the story about how the government issues every household a missile to store in their backyard and what people actually do with them, and The Inner Courtyard, about a secret world that is there if you know where to find it. It was not only a lovely and charming story, but kind of the essence of the whole collection-a quirky and unexplainable world.
If you haven’t read Shaun Tan do yourself a favor and grab one of his books. They are a treat for your imagination and mind.
