I can’t decide if work like this inspires me or depresses me.

My favorite is…”The red tree”,
from desperation to hope!

i was kind of disappointed with the shortness of the red tree but i definitely love his latest – tales from outer suburbia
i have a pdf file of the arrival but i want to read it on paper

on the first page it looks a bit scary somehow, but on these further pages it doesn’t oddly. interesting concept and i always applaud being able to tell a complex story without any words (as it seems impossible to me)

the cover really makes it all though!

Probably one of the best picture books ever.
It makes me think of the Codex seraphinianus: in a way, it is a guidebook to an unknown and unknowable world. And, at the same time, a treatise about migration, integration and multiculturalism.
And, in my humble opinion, far better, in terms both of illustration and storytelling, than the celebrated Hugo Cabret.
The absence of words, in this book, is a necessity, not a clever trick: the protagonist is an alien in e foreign country and – as in the experience of all migrants – this new world has no words for him. Like – say – when you go to Chinatawn.
There is, somewhere on the web, an interview or an article where Shaun Tan explaines in detail how he created this book, all the iconographic research he did et cetera. But I am getting old, and there is this crazy german fellow who makes me lose my memory. What’s his name?

really liked your comment plumers! …but intriguing that you say an immigrant in a new country find the experience wordless, as I myself found it the complete opposite (there was a feeling of an absolute overload of words) – interesting how these things can be experienced so differently

I love this book and I also love his book called The Rabbits. A little old for our little guy but very, very cool.

I haven’t really looked too much at this one, but I have a copy of his book, the Rabbits, and am blown away by it every time I look at it! By the way, I hope all is well in NY!!!

I LOVE, LOVE Shaun Tan’s books. This is one of my favourite books of all times, along with Tales from Outer Suburbia — quite different from this one, but you MUST check it out.

This is one of my son’s favorite books. He can spend hours looking at it.

I think that the drawings are fantastic. I never bought this book though for two reasons:
I really don`t like the cover; I don’t think it fits to the rest of the book… and I don’t like the paper on which it is printed. For those fabulous drawings, the paper needs to have the same quality.

this book is absolutely amazing. i love it.

I ADORE that book! It has great power, which can really only be appreciated by actually reading the images sequentially, as intended. Just flipping through the pages and glancing at images will not give you the full effect.

I can’t urge people strongly enough to spend some time with this book. It is beautiful on all levels.

thank you for sharing. his work is always intriguing and original. I could hold his books for hours.

Coooooll dudeee

got this book a few years ago now, shaun tan is one of my favourite illustrators and this book is amazing

I really believe, An image speaks a thousand words, very talented artist.

The Arrival is just an amazing epic of a silent film. I would pay to see this made into a feature. Shaun Tan’s The Rabbits actually made me want to be an illustrator – I was 17 and picked it up in our school library. Blown. Away. Was lucky enough to get The Lost Thing and The Red Tree signed. The Rabbits will always be my favourite.