A girl’s sense of isolation, despair, and disconnection is disrupted by sudden beauty in a seemingly grim world. A strange, lost object’s fate takes an unexpected turn after a young man who notices it embarks on a search for where it belongs, instead finding a refuge for oddities—a place where it might be happy. An indigenous voice describes the destruction of land and culture by the rabbits that colonized the region generations before. Three unusual stories—two written by Shaun Tan, the third by John Marsden, and all featuring Tan’s distinctive, imaginative art—comprise a collection inviting thought and reflection. “The Red Tree” is emotionally arresting with its stunning visual portrayal of depression into which hope emerges, a tiny offering that suddenly bursts the girl’s world of darkness. In “The Lost Thing,” a society’s indifference is confounded by an act of compassion. And in “The Rabbits,” the parallel to Australian Aboriginal history in the wake of colonial domination is obvious and intended. All three stories feature Tan’s intricate, detailed art depicting worlds that have been consumed, at least in part, by technology in a volume that affirms the value of nature, connection, and caring, and that will be enriched by what each reader brings to his or her understanding of the stories. Tan provides a commentary on each story in an afterword. (Age 10 and older)

A collection of three jaw-dropping stories: The Red Tree, The Lost Thing, and The Rabbits, by New York Times bestselling author and illustrator Shaun Tan

A girl finds a bright spot in a dark world. A boy leads a strange, lost creature home. And a group of peaceful creatures loses their home to cruel invaders. Three stories, written and illustrated by Shaun Tan, about how we lose and find what matters most to us. Never widely available in the U.S., these tales are presented in their entirety with new artwork and author's notes.