This book is a gift not only to fans of Shaun Tan's work but also to anyone interested in the creative process.
Thumbnail sketches in his "Notebooks" section demonstrate how Tan thinks sequentially. Notes in the margins of other sketches record possible story ideas for characters. He plays with color combinations and the effects of pastels compared to paints in the section "Drawings from Life." Studies of rabbits chronicle his process for arriving at his characters for John Marsden's The Rabbits. Sketches of objects from a pre-Columbian exhibit in Mexico City could be the seeds for The Lost Thing. These attest to the artist's grounding in reality, along with a pastel rendering of Mexico City in all its gritty beauty. Themes emerge from among his seemingly disparate sketches. "The boy with a sewn-on cat head" and "The troubles of horse-girl" portray the outcasts of society, an idea central to many of his works.
This beautifully designed volume is a gift of generosity Shaun Tan gives his readers. He talks about breaking through the equivalent of writer's block by just drawing, and quotes Paul Klee's description of "taking a line for a walk." He then opens his sketchbooks to bear this out. This raw material could be the artist at his most vulnerable, but Tan offers it as a strength, to fortify others with a creative impulse. For his fans, we see how these raw elements and a dedication to craft can yield superior storytelling. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness