The Arrival: Me, Ben and Shaun Tan

My curiosity whetted, I nailed the local librarian and came home with this book.

Whooee. This guy is a REALLY GOOD DRAWER.

Believe him when he says his drawings are 'visually complex'...and 'for older readers'. I was stumped by the sequence of pictures and hey I'm really old.

My really young (9 year old) son said when I showed him a page:

                            "I don't get it".

Ah hee hee, I love kids. However, The Arrival is a darkly beautiful  depiction of a migrant experience with an almost breathtaking visual imagination behind every frame. I will continue to seek this man's work out. He's very very good.

Comments

[lauredhel]

"The Arrival" is aimed at an older audience than some of his other books. My five year old can get plenty out of "The Rabbits" and "The Red Tree", but his absolute favourite is "The Lost Thing.

[Alison]

Hi lauredhel, Ben has read The Lost Thing and loved it too. Still haven't seen it myself. At the library the other day,I noticed too that Shaun has illustrated (at least one) of Nette Hilton's kids books too. Nette lives nearby and often spends time in the local school. I'll look out for those other two you've mentioned, thanks.