Tales from Outer Suburbia (2008)

4Q, 3P.
Alternating between absurd and poignant, these skillfully illustrated stories provide a wealth of experiences taking place in suburbia. "Grandpa's story" is a tale told to grandchildren about how life used to be, and what young married couples went through as a sort of initiation into wedded life. In such a brief amount of time, Tan captures the love and ties that bind us, and how the experience of feeling like aliens in a familiar landscape, can be universal and helpful. ( )

Shaun Tan's collection of stories in tales from Outer Suburbia is immensely entertaining and born of a truly vivid imagination. The art is amazing and entertains the minds with it's unique creativity. The stories that he writes to accompany his art don't fall short of the same lofty mark either. This book would be a great way to introduce a collaborative unit between an art class and a creative writing class where students could work at improving their creative, artistic and writing skills all in one combined unit. Shaun Tan is a master at developing a unique world where none of our own conventional rules apply. He pushes the boundaries of imagination and can truly inspire students to make their own attempt at creating impossible creations.

While unique and from a world apparently very different than our own, the stories are still very relatable. For example, in the short story "no other country", students could make connections to their own experiences when they felt similar to the main characters and how this may have helped them develop strategies for dealing with change and for seeing the positive in places, people and situations that they consider "different". ( )

Whilst I’d known of Shaun Tan’s work for a few years now I’d never got round to actually reading any of it. After being introduced to The Arrival at a conference I attended (I’m still sad that only the first 20 pages or so were read, I wanted to listen to the whole story being told) I knew I needed to start catching up with his work and Tales From Outer Suburbia became my first port of call. As soon as I started reading I realised there’s something very special and magical about Shaun Tan, and then realised that in my new review everything approach I was going to have to find a way to talk about this book.

It’s hard to explain why this book is so lovely, and such a magical read. It’s a collection of short stories, they cross genres, they vary in length but they all captivate the imagination. The illustrations that go with the stories are beautiful, I spent ages poring over the detail in some of them. I liked each and every story, though there were of course stories I loved more than others, my favourites included Eric, No Other Country and Alert But Not Alarmed. This is a really lovely book, I know I’ll be recommending it far and wide. ( )

Whilst I’d known of Shaun Tan’s work for a few years now I’d never got round to actually reading any of it. After being introduced to The Arrival at a conference I attended (I’m still sad that only the first 20 pages or so were read, I wanted to listen to the whole story being told) I knew I needed to start catching up with his work and Tales From Outer Suburbia became my first port of call. As soon as I started reading I realised there’s something very special and magical about Shaun Tan, and then realised that in my new review everything approach I was going to have to find a way to talk about this book.

It’s hard to explain why this book is so lovely, and such a magical read. It’s a collection of short stories, they cross genres, they vary in length but they all captivate the imagination. The illustrations that go with the stories are beautiful, I spent ages poring over the detail in some of them. I liked each and every story, though there were of course stories I loved more than others, my favourites included Eric, No Other Country and Alert But Not Alarmed. This is a really lovely book, I know I’ll be recommending it far and wide. ( )

Why did it take me so long to read this. I love this kind of crazy, odd, quirky stuff. The illustrations are incredible and the writing is really beautiful. I actually read some it out loud to myself. Quick read too. ( )