Tales From Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan

Tales From Outer Suburbia Cover

Tan’s Tales From Suburbia is sure to heighten children’s imagination and make adults remember what it was like to be a child. This book is a compiling of short stories set in suburbia. Tan captures the essence of surburbia with childlike eyes and in a narrative format using images that call upon the common American landscape.

On rare occasions, some especially insistent piece of writing will escape into a backyard or laneway- Be blown along a roadside embankment and finally come to rest in a shopping center parking lot-as so many things do-It is here that something quite remarkable takes place-

The book’s illustrations portray mundane communities that can be found across the United States; their identical houses, green lawns, alongside car laden highways. What is interesting and noteworthy about this book, is that Tan manages to create whimsical  tales amidst a backdrop that lacks any real luster or uniqueness. This book is sure to entertain any adult or child and will call to mind the wonder of  imagination and the creativity that lies within the human spirit.

Insight:

These short stories are imaginative and whimsical. They remind me of being a child and making fortresses using the dining room table and chairs. Kids live in such a different reality from grown ups. As a grown up now, this book lets me catch a glimpse of of how I use to see the world. You must read this one!

Suggested Library Activity:  

In a school library setting, this book could be used as a segway to an imaginative writing lesson. This book will encourage students to find the extraordinary in the ordinary every day details. Read this story first and then brainstorm creative writing ideas taking ideas from students’ everyday life.

Bibliographic Citation: Shaun, T. (2008). Tales from outer suburbia. New York: Author A. Levine Books.

Additional Book Review:

“Tales From Outer Suburbia” is a collection of illustrated stories about, among other things, a water buffalo who hangs out in a vacant lot and gives directions to local kids; stick figures who get beaten up by neighborhood bullies; a giant du gong that appears on someone’s lawn; and the lonely fate of all the unread poetry that people write — it joins a vast “river of waste that flows out of suburbia.” This last story, by the way, is presented as a flotilla of random scraps that “through a strange force of attraction” come together, the word “naturally” meeting the phrase “many poems are” and then “immediately destroyed…”

Lindgren, H. (2009, November 5). Everyday weirdness. Message posted to http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/books/review/Lindgren-t.html

Mirette on the High Wire by Emily Arnold McGully

Book Cover

Mirette on The Wire by Emily Arnold McGully makes me remember what it is to dream as a child. This story set in nineteenth century Paris focuses on Mirette, a little girl raised in a hotel. Mirette catches a glimpse of the great Bellini, an accomplished high wire walker and upon seeing Bellini on the high wire Mirette is mesmerized. Mirette is determined to walk across the wire, but she soon realizes it is more challenging than it looks. Determined to walk the wire Mirette practices and practices to learn the skills it takes and develop the courage she needs to succeed. This story is simply enchanting in setting, characters and illustrations. The illustrations are pure whimsy conveying the playfulness of the story and the beautiful imagery of nineteenth century Paris. This story was awarded the Caldecott in 1993. Recommended.

Suggested Library Activity:

Use this book to introduce and discuss Impressionistic painters. Have students create their own painting of something they have always wanted to learn and accomplish.

Bibliographic Citation:

McCully, E. (2007). Mirette on the high wire. New York: G.P. Putnamʼs Sons.

Additional Book Review:

K-Gr 4– Mirette’s mother keeps a boardinghouse that attracts traveling performers . The girl is intrigued by one silent visitor, Bellini, who has come for a rest. She finds him next morning walking a high wire strung across the backyard. Immediately, she is drawn to it, practicing on it herself until she finds her balance and can walk its distance. But she finds the man unusually secretive about his identity; he was a famous high-wire artist, but has lost his courage. He is lured by an agent to make a comeback, but freezes on the wire. Seeing Mirette at the end of it restores his nerve; after the performance the two set off on a new career together. As improbable as the story is, its theatrical setting at some historical distance, replete with European architecture and exotic settings and people, helps lend credibility to this circus tale. Mirette, through determination and perhaps talent, trains herself, overcoming countless falls on cobblestone, vaunting pride that goes before a fall, and lack of encouragement from Bellini. The impressionistic paintings, full of mottled, rough edges and bright colors, capture both the detail and the general milieu of Paris in the last century. The colors are reminiscent of Toulouse-Lautrec, the daubing technique of Seurat. A satisfying, high-spirited adventure. –Ruth K. MacDonald, Purdue Univ . Calumet, Hammond, IN

School Library Journal (October 1992)