In this collection of illustrated short stories, award-winning author Shaun Tan presents a variety of odd and beautiful tales, marrying the mundane to the fantastical. Dream logic, oddball situations and darkly beautiful illustrations come together in this book of surrealist parables.
Booktalk
What happens in Outer Suburbia?
A deep sea diver roams the suburbs, a water buffalo has all the answers, an exchange student floats away on a leaf: these are just the beginning of the characters who fade in and out of Tan's stories. Poetry collects in balls in the sky, newlyweds are sent into the mountains on unexplained scavenger hunts, and manatees appear and vanish mysteriously in the dark. Slowly building with poignant resonance, this is the kind of book to read in the night before drifting off to sleep, letting its perfect strangeness sink in.
What happens in Outer Suburbia? I can't begin to explain.
Awards
Spring 2009 Kid's Indie Next List
Best Artist, World Fantasy Awards 2009
CBCA Book of the Year, 2009
Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2009
New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books, 2009
BCCB Blue Ribbon Book 2009
Washington Post Best Kids' Books of the Year
Booklist Editors’ Choices for 2009
A YALSA Best Book for Young Adults, 2010
An ALA Notable Book for Children, 2010
USBBY Oustanding International Book, 2010
2009 Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist
(Image credits: Emerson Public Library, Parka Blogs)
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