Shaun Tan (born 1974) is the illustrator and author of award-winning children's books. After freelancing for some years from a studio at Mt. Lawley, Tan relocated to Melbourne, Victoria in 2007. Tan was the Illustrator in Residence at the University of Melbourne's Department of Language Literacy and Arts Education for two weeks through an annual Fellowship offered by the May Gibbs Children’s Literature Trust. 2009 World Fantasy Award for Best Artist.

9781840113136: Tales From Outer Suburbia - Shaun Tan

These days, if you encounter a story set in the suburbs, chances are it won’t end well for the characters: His stories always create a mood and encourage us to think about something a little differently or deeper. It is an amazing gift he has. Shaun Tan (born 1974) is an Australian artist, writer and film maker. He won an Academy Award for The Lost Thing, a 2011 animated film adaptation of a 2000 picture book he wrote and illustrated. Other books he has written and illustrated include The Red Tree and The Arrival. Tales from Outer Suburbia is a rich resource in any upper key stage 2 classroom. Children can imaginatively continue the stories or fill-in the missing pieces, construct alternative narratives hinted at by the pictures, or write empathetically while changing the point of view. As the prose is light on dialogue, it lends itself well to role play, speech and scriptwriting. For non-fiction writing, children can produce recounts of the strange events, reports on the strangeness of their own hometowns or explanations of how the ‘Amnesia Machine’ or secret ‘Inner Courtyards’ work.

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One of my favorite short stories is the one I chose to open this sort of review with: "Distant rain". Anything unoriginal, like the title, becomes part of something memorable if there’s a skilled pen involved. You should take a look. This short story resembles a dual prose-poem: light and simple on the surface but heavy and perplexing if one digs deeper, as it carries the weight of unspoken emotions. As a writer, I love finding books that humble me, and Shaun Tan's books always seem to manage that. I highly recommend this book to readers of all ages. This intertextual detail is followed by ordinary, more relatable ones: At the casino Eric gets onto the table and looks at a chip. At the movies he is taken by a dropped piece of popcorn. BIG STRUGGLE The house at number seventeen was only ever mentioned with lowered voices by the neighbours. They knew well the frequent sounds of shouting, slamming doors and crashing objects. But one sultry summer night, something else happened, something far more interesting: the appearance of a large marine animal on the front lawn.”

Tales from Outer Suburbia - Shaun Tan - Google Books

This is a stunningly illustrated collection of quirky short stories from an award winning author. Featuring homemade pets, dangerous weddings and secret rooms filled with darkness and delight. Tales from Outer Suburbia is a truly beautiful book. Source: Mums and Dads magazine Much later, my partner and I had a Finnish friend come to stay with us in Perth. He was a great guy, but very reticent (not uncommon for Finnish men) and often it was unclear as to whether he was happy or not about our planned outings. He was very polite and agreeable, but seldom expressed opinions. So the story is largely about the kind of anxiety that can arise when hosting a guest, as well as more general issues of cultural miscommunication. For artists who eschew capitalisation of their names, it’s often because they are making a statement against prescriptivism, and the rules set down by adults. The practice may also symbolise rejection of the ego. Shaun Tan was born in 1974 and grew up in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. In school he became known as the 'good drawer' which partly compensated for always being the shortest kid in every class. Shaun began drawing and painting images for science fiction and horror stories in small-press magazines as a teenager, and has since become best known for illustrated books that deal with social, political and historical subjects through surreal, dream-like imagery.

Wikipedia citation

Tan was born in Fremantle, Western Australia, and grew up in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. In 2006, his wordless graphic novel The Arrival won the Book of the Year prize as part of the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards. [1] The same book won the Children's Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year award in 2007. [2] and the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards Premier's Prize in 2006. [3] What a brilliant idea 'the Other Country' is. What if there was a secret room in your home that lead to a whole huge world all your own? This is one of my favorites. The Haunted Boy” by Carson McCullers features a suburban Transylvania. As is the case for Count Dracula’s castle, there’s a ‘lunatic asylum’ nearby, looming over horrors happening inside a house. What if there was a book of stories set in the urban concrete jungle about everyday things that made normal life look magical? With beautiful illustrations, and wordplay, Shaun Tan did just that. As a boy, Tan spent time illustrating poems and stories and drawing dinosaurs, robots and spaceships. At school he was known as a talented artist. [6] At the age of eleven, he became a fan of The Twilight Zone television series as well as books that bore similar themes. Tan cites Ray Bradbury as a favorite at this time. These stories led to Tan writing his own short stories. Of his effort at writing as a youth, Tan tells, "I have a small pile of rejection letters as testament to this ambition!" [7] At the age of sixteen, Tan's first illustration appeared in the Australian magazine Aurealis in 1990. [7] Transition to illustration [ edit ]

Tales From Outer Suburbia | BookTrust

This beautifully illustrated book of short stories explores unexpected and fantastical situations that occur behind an average suburban façade. The Victorian government has cut down a tree that was culturally significant to Australia’s Indigenous Djab Wurrung women to make way for a highway in the state’s west. ‘Chainsaws tearing through my heart’: 50 arrested as sacred tree cut down to make way for Victorian highway Another author whose books often avoid adult-like punctuation such as capitalisation is Lauren Child, whose own name is known for being lower case, like bell hooks: Tan continued his education at the University of Western Australia where he studied Fine Arts, English Literature and History. While this was of interest to him, there was little practical work involved. [8] In 1995, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. [9] Work process [ edit ] Needless to say, you don’t find buffalo in the Australian suburbs (though you do quite frequently see wallabies and sometimes kangaroos). Tan’s huge creature is alarmingly out of place, though the girl is hardly perturbed by it.Philosophically, concrete was seen as humble, capable, and honest—exposed in all its rough glory, not hiding behind any paint or layers. Concrete structures were erected all over the world as housing projects, courthouses, schools, churches, hospitals—and city halls. The Smell of Concrete After Rain from 99% Invisible NO OTHER COUNTRY

‘Tales from Outer Suburbia’ by Shaun Tan | Hamilton Brookes

Extremely beautiful. Leaves you with a pretty clear feeling of why and how love, poetry and understanding are basically the same thing. (Although "to leave" cannot be less appropriate for a book that so much stays with you.) I fell for his books after reading 'The Arrival.' That had only pictures telling you stories. But this one has pictures and some little stories, too. I also loved Alert but not Alarmed where people are required to keep missiles in their gardens, just one each, ready in case they are needed. Residents are sent grey paint to help them in the upkeep but over time they start to use them for all sorts of purposes and decorate them in beautiful ways and many colours. There is a moral in this tale.Another favourite is “Alert But Not Alarmed” (a phrase oft quoted to Australians by government). Ballistic missiles are increasingly parked at houses in the suburbs with instructions to look after them and paint them every couple of years, free grey paint provided, of course. This beautifully illustrated book takes a quirky look at some of the mysteries of urban life. Once you start reading it's very hard to stop reading more of these short stories filled with darkness and delight. Author: Julia Eccleshare Source: Lovereading4Kids After reading the story, I realise how many of the people in the crowd are not looking at the amazing giant object at all. Like the narrator, whose reason for writing is presented in a slightly different font, they soon lose their sense of wonder and instead turn to the small, near and relatable: The flavours of their ice-creams.