Cautionary tales to protect the planet

Tan’s stories continue to enthrall in new book, Bernie Goedhart writes.

Tales From the Inner City Shaun Tan Tundra Books Ages 12 to 112

Ten years ago, Tundra Books published Tales from Outer Suburbia, a collection of short stories and paintings strangely evocative of childhood imaginings, written and illustrated by Australia’s Shaun Tan. Both text and art was colourful, sometimes amusing, often surreal and always unique — as are all of Tan’s books.

By virtue of their illustrations, they tend to be marketed as children’s literature, but their true audience ranges far beyond the picture-book readers. This year, Tan released Tales from the Inner City, and while it’s tempting to think of it as a sequel to Outer Suburbia, the book is much, much more. Again, there are stunningly memorable paintings that illustrate texts of varying lengths — from the single paragraph about an orca trapped in sky rather than sea, to the 11-page account of a group of boys who manage to catch an enormous moonfish only to find that its monetary value is far less than they’d hoped as the luminous creature (who makes the cover of this book) fades and rots when brought to Earth.

Tan has a knack for telling cautionary tales — unsettling stories that work on several levels. In this latest collection, each story centres on a specific animal — the index, in fact, comprises silhouettes of birds and beasts, each with a page number that brings the reader to, for example, a story about a snowy owl with piercing yellow eyes that keeps watch in a hospital waiting room. Or to a surprisingly touching story about a boardroom full of corporate bigwigs turned into small green amphibians who are kept moist and rescued when their long-suffering secretary takes pity on them.

If there is a single unifying thread to the stories, it has to do with man’s arrogant misuse of the planet and failure to take the needs of other species into account.