Students are invited to bring in picture books from their younger years, either from home or borrowed from the library. Each student expresses what they remember feeling about the book and what they find most memorable/interesting/enjoyable about it. Priming for later exploration of utopias and dystopias

This interview presents Tan’s detailed responses to questions about the way he thinks about his work and creativity. Great for comprehension activities.

Focus on the different angles and perspectives used to represent the boy’s world. Describe three of these perspectives in detail and explain what they add to the story. One of the central themes teachers can explore is belonging. To get students thinking about different aspects of belonging, a mind map can be crafted. This can either be done on paper or, for those teachers wishing to employ digital learning tools, an online mind-mapping application like Bubbl.us or Popplet. Image 1 shows the first appearance of the lost thing in a long shot, displaying the two main characters …show more content… In questo peregrinare notiamo tante cose strane che riusciremmo a vedere tranquillamente se solo non fossimo sempre così impegnati a pensare ai fatti nostri. The Red Tree, a play based on Tan's book of the same name, was commissioned by the Queensland Performing Arts Centre. [24]

Shaun Tan worked as part of a creative team to turn his book into an animation. As a consequence, the book and the film share a similar look and feel. However, these two texts are also very different as they are completely different art forms. Other artistic influences mentioned by Tan that relate more to the Utopia scene are those of Hieronymus Bosch and the Spanish Surrealists. A simple Google image search of Spanish Surrealists will provide plentiful images to give students a sense of the colour, vibrancy and the often bizarre subject matter of Surrealism; qualities that can also be seen in the Utopia image. One of the most famous works by Bosch is The Garden of Earthly Delights, a triptych depicting the Garden of Eden and Hell on the left and right panels, and the central panel involving people carousing with each other and animal figures in a strange landscape dotted with odd architecture. The link provided here is of a virtual tour of the expansive painting and it needs to be noted that there is adult content which some teachers may find unsuitable for Year 7/8 students. Adaptations The Rabbits was the basis for an opera of the same title by Kate Miller-Heidke which was premiered at the 2015 Perth International Arts Festival. The Lost Thing is rich in opportunities to develop students’ understanding of symbolism, which will also help with generating their own interpretations of the individual images and the whole text. The symbols can be discussed in terms of different categories.

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

The Arrival was again projected on a screen to an orchestral score, performed by Orkestra of the Underground with 18 pieces created by musician and composer Ben Walsh. This was performed in the Opera House in Sydney, The Melbourne Recital Centre and Her Majesty's Theatre in Adelaide. [30]

Students are informed that each post-it colour corresponds to a different aspect of The Lost Thing‘s construction. ( An analysis key (PDF, 96KB) has been provided. Insert particular post-it note colours in the first column and making the chart visible to the class).

The Lost Thing

Provide students with post-it notes to generate as many “tugs” on the rope as possible (evidence to support statement on the “yes” side, evidence to reject statement on the “no” side. Viewing The Viewer‘: postmodern picture books for teaching and learning in secondary English education This response to The Lost Thing will be the culmination of previous writing tasks that have given students opportunities to articulate their interpretations and understanding of theme. Panel discussions are ideal vehicles through which students demonstrate understandings and gain experience in engaging in literary discourse. The audience will also benefit from each panel discussion by listening to other interpretations and responses to The Lost Thing. Since the panel discussion requires students to synthesise knowledge and skills gained over previous lessons, extensive preparation time is not required. Even so, at the Year 7/8 level students may gain in confidence by having a practice run within their friendship groups.

What do you think of the final image? Why does the story end like this? What does this image add to the story? Explain. Do you think the lost thing is a machine or a living creature? Does it have feelings and emotions? How can you tell? Students will take one or more elements from The Lost Thing and “flesh it out” in their own work. Examples can include: As students respond to each of these questions they can attach their post-it notes under the appropriate heading. Each of their contributions should be initialed for later use and to help facilitate discussion. The initial contributions can serve as stimulus for an early discussion with the teacher choosing some interesting responses and asking students to expand on their thoughts. The Lost Thing is most commonly considered a picture book, a form which connotes an audience of young children. An argument might be made however, that The Lost Thing works as a graphic short story, in the same way a graphic novel suggests complexity of ideas that elevates it beyond a comic book. The richness of detail, depth of ideas and cultural references and allusions enable adults to gain much from it, while the simplicity of narrative and quirky humour appeals to younger readers. Engaging in a discussion with students about audience and picture book expectations will be a fruitful way to foreground concepts of audience and form. Shaun Tan has written in some detail on this subject in an essay called, “ Picture Books: Who are they for?”, in which he offers a number of interesting insights highly relevant to a study of The Lost Thing. Visual style and conventionsShaun Tan grew up in Perth and works as an artist, writer and film-maker in Melbourne. He is best known for illustrated books that deal with social, political and historical subjects through dream-like imagery. The Rabbits, The Red Tree, Tales from Outer Suburbia, Rules of Summer and the graphic novel The Arrivalhave been widely translated throughout the world and enjoyed by readers of all ages. Shaun has also worked as a theatre designer, a concept artist for Pixar and won an Academy Award for the short animated film The Lost Thing. In 2011 he received the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in Sweden, in recognition of his services to literature for young people. His most recent books are The Singing Bones, Cicada and the Kate Greenaway award-winning Tales from the Inner City. About the Book Action to action: a single subject (whether person, animal or thing) is depicted in a sequence of actions to represent a longer, overall scene; Post-it notes (teachers wishing to employ digital learning tools will find Padlet a useful “virtual” board to assemble class responses).