Rules of Summer

I don't really know what kids would think of this book. The story is a little hard to find, and the pictures are surreal and occasionally dark in tone. But I honestly don't care. Because I loved this book. I, in all my adultness, looking back on years of being an older sibling---of competition and confidences; of hair-pulling, nail-scratching slug-fests and standing shoulder-to-shoulder against all comers; of trading cruel, cutting words and whispering about crushes; of jealousy and dreams; of dismissive judgment and traversing imaginary worlds together---I loved this book.

I remember being that older boy, full of arbitrary assertions and grand plans, quick to lose my temper when my younger siblings failed to do as I wished...and just as show more quick to protect them from anyone who tried to hurt them. And I remember being that younger boy, confused, shut out, clumsy and annoying in my eagerness to participate, but so ready to forgive any wrong. I've injured and been injured by my siblings...and I know what it's like to stand in a stark winter of my life and know that the only ones coming for me are them.

This book, with its handful of words, its submerged story, its enigmatic, fanciful illustrations, holds a mirror to its reader and invites him or her to recognize themselves and their siblings within the pages. And because of that, I will always find something honest, something worthy of thought and consideration, each time I read it. show less

Rules of Summer by Shaun Tan is another example of how he uses his keen insight into the human condition to tell a beautiful story. I love when he uses entire two page spreads to illustrate his stories without any words whatsoever. In this book, he does this several times and it is breathtaking. Once again, I want to put his work up on my walls and just stare at it all the time. This is the story of two little boys who are basically listing out all of the things one cannot do during the summer months. You know basic preventative aids in case giant monsters attack planet earth. Normal stuff. It's an extremely quick read but honestly it's one that I pondered over for quite some time because it's just so visually stunning. If anyone is show more wondering what to get me for Christmas you could just get me the set of Tan's books and I'd be eternally grateful. Kidding! (Not really. Family, if you're reading this you know what to do. Hahahaha now I'm kidding. My family doesn't read this.) All in all, this was a winner which came as no surprise to you guys I'm sure. 10/10 show less

After looking at the Ditmar ballot more carefully, I thought I'd try to get an idea of what Shaun Tan's Rules of Summer is like. Poking around on the book's website, I learnt that it had an app and, seguing my poking to iTunes, I saw that the app was in fact an ebook rendition of the book. Since there's very little chance I'll even get the paper book and since the app was a bargain ($6.49 AUD) for what it was, I grabbed it.

The "rules" described by the protagonist start of fairly innocuously like "Never eat the last olive at a party" but become darker and more worrying as the story progresses. Although the narrative is told in sparse sentences, a large amount of the story is conveyed in the gorgeous artwork.

The layout of the app is that show more you turn pages (more or less) to get to each "rule" and then each rule leads you to the corresponding artwork. On the iPad, a single-page image is taller than the screen in landscape mode, but being an iPad, you can easily pan and zoom to see as much or little of the image and detail as you wish. In fact, each image "lands" zoomed in to some pertinent element. The magic of the iPad (or iPhone/iPod Touch, but I can't imaging that experience would be as good) is that you can zoom in on details much more easily than would be possible in the printed version. It's like having a built-in magnifying glass for the artwork. There's also a little bit of pulsing colour areas, which obviously wouldn't exist in the printed version. Another non-printable feature was the background mood music that you could turn up while reading. I think the music complemented the work nicely, but in terms of listening with sound on and off, I don't feel that strongly about it.

A few other features are in the app but (I assume) not the printed book. When you've read through it once, it unlocks sketch mode. This allows you to go through the illustrations (and words) again but with preliminary sketches instead of the finished illustrations. Some of these are charcoal (I think? I'm not entirely au fait with art stuff), while some are in colour but on a smaller scale to the finished oil paintings. The most interesting to me, as someone who isn't remotely a painter, was seeing the sketches which were slightly different to the finished works, and thinking about why they evolved that way.

After reading through the book in sketch mode, you unlock a journal with some early concept images, storyboard and so forth. Seeing some of the "rules" which didn't make it into the book was probably my favourite of the bonus content (for lack of a better term). The glimpse into the development of the book was fascinating.

I highly recommend this book and the app in particular to anyone with a passing interest in fantasy art, children, and fans of Shaun Tan's work. To be honest, I'm not actually sure that the app would be the best way to read the book to children, but it would good for a slightly older child to explore by themselves, I think. Assuming the printed book is what I think it is (that is, just the finished artwork), this app would be a great accompaniment for anyone interested in looking further at the developmental process.

4.5 / 5 stars

You can read more of my reviews on my blog. show less

Sometimes I give away my illustrated books. But this one, is a keeper. Two boys working their way into summer and trying to find fun.
The older brother teaches the younger that there are rules that can be broken. The young stands by and disbelieves.

The illustrations are unique, and the book brought back memories of summers with my sisters. And, as the oldest, I too tried to make them break the rules.

I loved this book!

I am getting obsessed with Shaun Tan's books. This was a great picture book. Basically its rules what not to do during the summer and it shows two boys getting in a lot of trouble. The artwork is just simply stunning and it is what keeps me coming back to read more from this author.

Brilliant, this SPB (Sophisticated Picture Book) through the use of pictures gives us interpretations of unspoken rules. The pictures are interpretative by your current schema, reminding us of what the causes or consequences might be when we break the rules, thus reminding us not to break the rules when we don't understand them.
The very first picture is a silhouette of two boys, one older and the other younger, i take this to mean that we learn vicariously from other others, our elders, so therefore we need to be role models and act how we want others to act.
One rule depicted in the book is "Never eat the last olive at a party" and the picture shows the elder brother pulling the younger away from the plate while an audience of show more vultures look on scornfully. While there is no rule at functions about eating the last piece of food on a plate we are well aware that it is not the done thing because we are not to appear as gluttons and we are to put others and their needs before our own. Funnily enough when attending functions you will always see people doing this.
This book is full of pictures and unspoken rules, some not so easy to define while others are as clear as day.
Towards the end the pictures depict the tension felt by the elder brother as he constantly has to keep the younger on the right track and on the right side of the rules. This building up of tension is shown through use of a the rule ' Never ask for a reason" and sees the elder trying to control the anger of the younger leading onto the next page where the younger is tethered to a leash and the older accepts a crown from a crow 'Never lose a fight' meaning don't give up, fight the good fight.
The black crows get thicker and thicker on each page showing it will get worse before it gets better ending with the older boy extending his hand and hauling the younger one up a ladder.
A great book to share with students who enjoyed discussing these rules and their validity. Each time you revisit the pictures the ideas build - FANTASTIC show less

This fantastical, quirky picture book has mesmerizing illustrations and a seemingly simple format: a repetitive rule book for getting through summer adventures. Larger topics such as bullying and the arbitranary nature of some rules can be discussed with older students.