Lost and Found: Three by Shaun Tan

One problem with ordering something online as opposed to picking it up while browsing a bookstore is that you have to look hard to find out what a book is like. The information is all down there in the details section, but I don’t always look at it.

I knew that Lost and Found: Three by Shaun Tan was for ages 9 – 12 and included 3 short stories and was 128 pages long, so I assumed that it was filled with text and made up of 3 40-page stories. When it arrived I saw differently. The book is not the size of a standard novel, but an oversized 9 x 11. And it’s not full of text, but full of artwork, both in the pictures (in the style of the cover artwork) and the creative ways the words are arranged on the page.

This is a fabulously unexpected book!

Lost and Found is a beautiful and poetic book that would be perfect for a reluctant reader or an upper-elementary kid who reads below his or her age.

The first story, “The Red Tree,” shows the depth and mature theme conveyed in just a few words, describing a day that is bleak and terrible when “sometimes you just don’t know what you are supposed to do or who you are meant to be.” The day ends with hope — the red tree exposed by the beacon of light in the room that at first seems to end just the way it began.

The second story, “The Lost Thing” features the thing found on the cover of the book and the theme about how we treat things (or people??) that are obsolete or old comes through loud and clear. The way this is graphically laid out makes it interesting to read. The pictures and text are placed over a newsprint sort of background that gives curious eyes a lot to take in.

The third story, “The Rabbits,” is written by John Marsden, not Tan (as the other two are), and the author’s note confirms this reader’s impression that the story is about what is lost from a native population when progress invades.

I hope that this book finds its way into the hands of those who will love it. It’s truly a treasure waiting to be discovered.

Jennifer Donovan has lost a lot of things: her ipod Touch, her coffee cup, and her focus. She has no artistic talent, but she appreciates it when she sees it (and both of her children seem to have found it!) She blogs at Snapshot.