Readings.com.au: Shaun Tan

The Lost Thing

A boy discovers a bizarre-looking creature while out collecting bottle-tops at a beach. Having guessed that it is lost, he tries to find out who owns it or where it belongs, a problem that is met with mute indifference from everyone else, who barely notice its presence. Each is unhelpful in their own way; strangers, friends, parents are all unwilling to entertain this uninvited interruption to day-to-day life. They are all too busy doing other stuff. For reasons he does not explain, the boy empathises with the creature, or at least seems determined to find a place for it.

Includes 48pp book: WHAT MISCELLANEOUS ABNORMALITY IS THAT? This brand new hardcover publication is only available in a limited edition especially produced to compliment the release of THE LOST THING on DVD. It will not be sold separately.

DVD Extras include: Deleted Footage, Production Artwork, Creating Utopia, Shaun Tan Documentary, Director's Commentaries.

Read our interview with Shaun Tan about the DVD release of The Lost Thing.

The Lost Thing

The Lost Thing is a humorous story about a boy who discovers a bizarre-looking creature while out collecting bottle-tops at a beach. Having guessed that it is lost, he tries to find out who owns it or where it belongs, but the problem is met with indifference by everyone else, who barely notice it’s presence. Each is unhelpful in their own way; strangers, friends, parents are all unwilling to entertain this uninvited interruption to day-to-day life. In spite of his better judgement, the boy feels sorry for this hapless creature, and attempts to find out where it belongs.

The Lost Thing received an Honourable Mention at the Bologna International Book Fair, Italy, was named an Honour Book at the CBCA Awards, won an Aurealis Award and a Spectrum Award for illustration in the United States. Original illustrations from the book were exhibited at the Itabashi Art Museum in Tokyo.

Tales From Outer Suburbia

CBCA Older Readers Book of the Year 2009

Do you remember the water buffalo at the end of our street?

Or the deep-sea diver we found near the underpass?

Do you know why dogs bark in the middle of the night?

Shaun Tan, creator of The Arrival, The Lost Thing and The Red Tree, reveals the quiet mysteries of everyday life: homemade pets, dangerous weddings, stranded sea mammals, tiny exchange students and secret rooms filled with darkness and delight.

The Arrival and Sketches From A Nameless Land (Slipcase)

Shaun Tan’s The Arrival is an incredibly unique, multi award-winning book, and an internationally acclaimed publishing phenomenon.

In acknowledgement of this indelible and magnificent tale, we bring you an extraordinary slipcase that encapsulates the heart and soul of The Arrival.

Contains hardcover editions of The Arrival and Sketches from a Nameless Land.

Both books fit inside a framed box. A ribbon attached to the inside frame will allow the books to be lifted out of the box with ease.

Discover what inspired Shaun Tan to create the wordless tale which captures the universally understood concept of displacement, entirely through artwork.

The response to The Arrival has been overwhelming, especially given Shaun’s concerns that it would be considered as an idiosyncratic book.

The Arrival has been “translated” into many languages, enjoyed by children and adults alike, and widely ‘read’ by migrants.

Such interest has made this volume of 48 pages of preliminary notes and sketches, now known as Sketches From A Nameless Land, possible.

Read Oslo Davis's interview with Shaun Tan about The Arrival and Sketches From A Nameless Land.

The Bird King and Other Sketches

The bird king, the anthropologists, the thing in the bathroom, the paraffin-oil koala, the secret birthday party…what do they all have in common? Nothing! Except for the fact that they all come from the sketchbooks of Shaun Tan, acclaimed creator of The Lost Thing, The Arrival and Tales from Outer Suburbia.

Also selected by the artist are preliminary drawings for book, film and theatre projects, portrait and landscape studies, along with pages from travelling notebooks. All off a special insight into the daydreams of a celebrated author an illustrator.

Tuesday Afternoon Reading Group Journal

A series of luxury blank journals featuring eight different designs by award winning Australian illustrator Shaun Tan. Collect all eight journals! 128 plain pages are ideal for notes, a travel journal or sketches. Matt laminated cover with cloth spine and ribbon marker.

The Arrival And Sketch Book Deluxe Set (Collector's Edition)

An extraordinary deluxe edition that encapsulates the heart and soul of THE ARRIVAL.

This unique presentation of the best-selling, internationally acclaimed graphic novel THE ARRIVAL, and a new companion volume of commentary and developmental drawings, SKETCHES FROM A NAMELESS LAND, beautifully packages the two books within a traveller’s suitcase that also contains a limited edition numbered Shaun Tan print of an illustration from THE ARRIVAL. This collector’s edition will fascinate anyone who has fallen under the spell of Shaun Tan s timeless story, and offers a revealing insight into the craft of one of Australia s most compelling author-illustrators. THE ARRIVAL has become one of the most critically acclaimed books of recent years, a wordless masterpiece that describes a world beyond any familiar time or place. How did it come to be created, and what inspired its unique and captivating story? In SKETCHES FROM A NAMELESS LAND, author Shaun Tan explains the origins of his ideas, using examples from early research and concept sketches through to finished artwork. In tracing this evolution, he sheds light on the silent language of images, the spirit of the migrant experience and the artist s creative journey.

The Red Tree

The Red Tree is a book about feelings - feelings that can not always be simply expressed in words. It is a series of imaginary landscapes conjured up by the wizardry of Shaun Tan's masterful and miraculous art.

As a kind of fable, The Red Tree seeks to remind us that just as bad feelings are inevitable, they are always tempered by hope.

Paraffin Koala Journal

Tea Ceremony Journal

Bee Eater Journal

Best Friends Journal

Pearl Diver Journal

Aqua Terrestial Journal

Snow Owl Journal

The Odditoreum

The Odditoreum contains a parade of curiosities large and small from deep within the vaults of the Powerhouse Museum. Award-winning author and illustrator Shaun Tan has created an intriguing story for each, blurring fact and fantasy, in a very potent and funny mix for readers of all ages. And he’s left some pages blank, so you can write your own fanciful stories!

Eric

Eric is eternally curious and effortlessly charming - a house guest whose approach to the world will capture your heart. This is a mini gift edition of one of the most loved stories from the multi-award-winning, internationally lauded masterpiece Tales from Outer Suburbia.

'Shaun Tan's stories touch on wonder, fear, exploration and relationships...Questioning strangeness is a strong theme, a reminder that difference doesn't have to mean the same thing as fear...' The Age

Shaun Tan's stunning picture books and illustrated fiction have delighted readers of all ages around the world. His multi-award winning titles Tales from Outer Suburbia (2008) and The Arrival (2006) have won international critical acclaim. Shaun's early solo work and collaborations with John Marsden (The Rabbits) and Gary Crew (The Viewer and Memorial) established him as a leading creator of sophisticated picture books.

In 1992 Shaun won the International Illustrators of the Future Contest, the first Australian to achieve this award. His many honours since include CBCA Picture Book and Older Readers awards (2009 + 2007), NSW Premiers awards (2002 + 2007), Spectrum Gold and Silver Awards, Aurealis and Ditmar Awards for Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy, the 2001 and 2009 World Fantasy Awards as Best Artist and the internationally prestigious Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis.

The Red Tree

As a kind of fable, The Red Tree seeks to remind us that just as bad feelings are inevitable, they are always tempered by hope.

The Lost Thing

Memorial

Memorial is a story about a tree planted beside a war memorial monument, in a small country town by returned servicemen. Years on, the tree has grown to be huge and unruly, dislodging the statue next to it and creating a traffic hazard in what is now a much larger, busier town. A decision is made by a local council to cut the tree down.

Memorial won an Honour Book award in the 2000 CBCA awards, won an APA Design Award for best designed children’s book and was short-listed for the Queensland Premier’s Book Awards.

The Lost Thing

Tender Morsels

Tender Morsels has won tremendous acclaim around the world. It is fiercely poetic, exquisite and unforgettable. Fantasy at its heart-wrenching best.

Liga's life is filled with dark hearts and foul deeds. So she chooses a protective path of natural magic to find a safe other-worldly place for herself and her two daughters. But when magicked bears and mischief men break the borders of their refuge the girls must face the truth, and engage with the appeal and risk of the real raw world. Tender Morsels unflinchingly explores the evil and sweetness in the world and the magic of learning to live with both.

Cover illustration by Shaun Tan.

'One of my favourite books in ages...powerful and moving.' Neil Gaiman

'Tender Morsels...is funny, tragic, wise, tender and beautifully written. It also left me gasping with shock'. Meg Rosoff

'...a towering work of imagination in which a supremely talented writer opens rich new frontiers.' Sydney Morning Herald

'Give over to the pull of this story and you will be transported.' The Age 'An exquisite novel.' Weekend Australian

'A wonderful and thought-provoking story examining the human condition, set in a world where anything is possible.' Herald Sun

'...a marvel to read and will only further solidify Lanagan's place at the very razor's edge of YA speculative fiction.' Booklist

The Viewer

Written by acclaimed horror writer Gary Crew, The Viewer tells the peculiar story of a boy whose obsession with curious artefacts leads him to discover an strange box at a dump site. It proves to be an ancient chest full of optical devices, one of which captures his interest; an intricately mechanical object which carries disks of images; scenes of destruction, violence and the collapse of civilisations throughout time. The boy is afraid, but also cannot help but look into the machine time and time again as the images shift and change…

The Lost Thing

The Rabbits

A rich and haunting allegory of colonization for all ages and cultures, told from the viewpoint of native animals. This stunning picture book examines the consequences of the arrival of a group of rabbits with entirely unfamiliar ways. They bring new food and animals, and they make their own houses to live in, eventually dominating the environment and its other inhabitants. The parallels with our own experience are many: "They chopped down our trees and scared away our friends and stole our children..."

The Rabbits: 10th Anniversary Edition

The Arrival

The Arrival is a 128 page book of illustrations without words, a silent graphic novel. Through a series of connecting images, it tells the story of a migrant leaving his home, crossing an ocean to a strange new city and eventually learning how to live there. The migrant is unable to understand such things as the language, transportation, food and housing of this foreign place and therefore neither should the reader, hence the absence of words.The artwork embraces the texture of old sepia photographs that typically documented social life during the early nineteenth century. The entire work of art simultaneously appears as a strange photo album.

Shaun Tan is an award winning author and illustrator, well-known for The Lost Thing which was a CBCA Honour Book in 2002 and The Red Tree, which was also a CBCA Honour Book in 2002. This illustrative masterpiece will appeal directly to children and adults of all ages, cultures and backgrounds.

Ages: 9+

Shaun Tan Bag (Long Handle)

The gorgeous Shaun Tan illustration on this limited edition Readings calico bag shows a one-eyed monster reading a book on a hill, with a small girl by his side.

This bag is part of Readings' Working Art Project that showcases local artists, illustrators and designers.

Shaun Tan Bag (Short Handle)

The gorgeous Shaun Tan illustration on this limited edition Readings calico bag shows a one-eyed monster reading a book on a hill, with a small girl by his side.

This bag is part of Readings' Working Art Project that showcases local artists, illustrators and designers.