Lost and Found

Summary:

Collects three stories by Shaun Tan that explore how people lose and find what matters most to them, as a girl finds a bright spot in a dark world, a boy leads a strange, lost being home, and a group of peaceful creatures loses its home to cruel invaders.

Staff Review:

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. The story and art are both compelling and beautiful. Following in the style of his earlier book, The Arrival, author Shaun Tan brings us three new stories all compiled in this single volume. This book goes beyond the simple definition of a picture book. The images, created in a collage style, evoke strong emotions of loss, identity, joy, and destruction. The stories are simple yet provocative. In the first story, "The Red Tree," a small girl finds hope in her life just when everything seemed too dark to continue. In the second, "The Lost Thing," we are given a glimpse of what it means be accepted and also how we can become so caught up in our world we cannot see anything that is different. The last story, "The Rabbits," tells a tale of conquest and loss. This is not a book to flip through casually but one to savor and reflect on.

-- by Mollie H.