The Lost Thing

"I think Shaun Tan is absolutely amazing. In The Lost Thing he creates a whole world, and in this case it’s a barmy world. It’s so rich in detail. There’s a sense of this being a real other world that you’re allowed to look into. It’s about a boy finding a lost creature on a beach. The boy decides to take it home. Eventually he sets it free again. A less imaginative illustrator may have made this story cute and the situation comforting. Instead, Shaun Tan gives us a massive thing that’s half sea creature, half machine. It is an imaginative book—full of energy—it is also magical, almost gothic. “It is an imaginative book—full of energy—it is also magical, almost gothic.” He’s fantastic. I love another book by him called The Arrival as well. But I picked this because it opened my eyes to what you could do in this format. It’s easy to think that children’s picture books should be quite safe and prescribed. But then you look at a book like The Lost Thing and you get the feeling that anything is possible."