HIGHRISE CROCS

FICTION Tales from the Inner City Shaun Tan

Allen & Unwin, $35

Crocodiles live on the 87th floor, goes the first line of Shaun Tan’s new illustrated book, and so the tone is set for this dreamlike set of short stories. The other workers in the building are oblivious to the writhing reptiles, the city and traffic buzzing way below. Only a few building inspectors and maintenance guys know about them. The illustration shows a window cleaner staring in through the glass.

But don’t be confused into thinking that because this is a picture book it’s aimed at young children. Tan, 44, thinks a lot of teens and adults will find it interesting, as it explores economics, relationships and politics.

It’s been 10 years since the Aussie author and illustrator released bestseller Tales from Outer Suburbia. The short film adaptation of his book The Lost Thing, which he co-directed, won an Oscar and he took out a prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in Sweden in recognition of his services to literature for young people.

Tales from the Inner City is not a sequel, Tan says, more a sister volume. “Tales from the Inner City evolved into its own thing. It’s a much more uniform volume of stories — the relationship between humans and animals in an urban environment.”

While Tales from Outer Suburbia was born from Tan’s experience growing up in suburban Perth, Tales from the Inner City was informed by his recent life in Melbourne, with wife Inari Kiuru. He started sketching the book 10 years ago, then five years ago his daughter was born and he became a stay-at-home dad. Like many parents, Tan bought a Melbourne Zoo membership and became a regular at the Royal Park venue. The zoo inspired the book, particularly how children related to animals.

He started thinking a lot about how you could see giraffes just a short train ride away from a “bustling metropolis, people in glass and steel towers”. “I’m interested in that essential human impulse to tell animal stories and try to apply that to urban living,” he says.

There is a story about a loved cat visiting inner-city dwellers, a pig living in an apartment and a heartbreaking tale about fishing above buildings for moonfish. Some illustrations started as sketches, others were created through collage or adapted from playing with toys. Literary influences include short stories by Japanese author Haruki Murakami and Ray Bradbury. Disney films had a big impact as did George Orwell’s Animal Farm. “Mum accidentally read it to us when we were very young and thought it was a children’s book,” Tan says. She was horrified when she found it wasn’t but Tan, about seven, and his brother wanted to hear what happened in the end, so she had to finish it. “I quite liked that it was a really bad ending because I had not really come across that before then.” As well as reading “genre-bending” short stories and comics, Tan is interested in research in animal intelligence and consciousness.

The gap between humans and animals needs to be bridged, he says, and we need a better understanding of their consciousness. “It’s devastating what people have done to animals all because of a false sense of superiority, thinking we are better than other animals,” he says. “I think when you disrespect an animal or abuse an animal, it’s not just about the animal, you are also abusing yourself.”