- Paperback: 32 pages
- Publisher: Lothian Children's Books; New edition edition (Nov 1 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0734405391
- ISBN-13: 978-0734405395
- Product Dimensions: 30.4 x 23.2 x 1 cm
- Shipping Weight: 240 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #640,191 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From School Library Journal
Grade 3 Up-An astonishing fable in picture-book format. A girl moving through landscapes of hopelessness and isolation encounters an image of hope on the book's final page. Through the weight of her sorrow, readers conclude, on both intellectual and emotional levels, that living in despair is waiting for hope. Tan's sophisticated mixed-media illustrations include fantasy and dream elements, and subtle symbolism packed together with an array of art techniques ranging from complicated cut-paper collages to Drescher-like paintings, but serious. These complex pictures send visual impressions powerful enough to cause readers to gasp as a new page is revealed. The simple, direct text ("darkness overcomes you" or "sometimes you just don't know what you are supposed to do"), often poetic ("the world is a deaf machine"), serves both as an entryway into the complicated illustrations, and as an enhancement to them. Perhaps too sophisticated in its point of view for some youngsters, this is nonetheless a book of amazing beauty, high quality, and distinguished artistry.
Liza Graybill, Worcester Public Library, MA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Liza Graybill, Worcester Public Library, MA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
Gr. 6-12. "Sometimes the day begins with nothing to look forward to . . . darkness overwhelms you / nobody understands." This picture book for older readers uses spare words and extraordinary paint-and-paper collages to articulate the hopelessness, anxiety, and fear that accompany depression. Each lavish spread follows a young, red-haired girl through wildly imagined, nightmarish landscapes: a city scene, normal except for a hideous giant fish with bloodied eyes; a violent clashing of enormous ships and tidal waves hovering over the girl crouched in a tiny boat. The text is minimal, just a few words per page, but the themes and images are sophisticated: regret over missed opportunities; information overload; the search for identity and meaning. Fragile hope comes in the form of a tiny red leaf that's barely noticeable in each composition, but finally blossoms, at the book's end, into a blazing, glorious tree. Art students, teens, and even adults will be interested in these gripping fantasies, which capture dark fears and depression's terrifying, illogical power. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
my child is seven; she was delighted and moved,
By
This review is from: The Red Tree (Hardcover)
Whoever gave the one star below woefully underestimated the depth and insight of our miracle children. A friend gave the book to me as a gift; it immediately became my favorite. I ordered three more for gifts. Everyone comments on the sunny disposition of my happy daughter, but she is a deep thinker and is affected by world events and the inherent stress of today's childhood. Children can also sense the pain and stress their parents sometimes experience, no matter how carefully we may try to shield them.Phoebe said she could relate to the pictures in the book. It was she who pointed out to me that a red leaf is on every sad page. At the end she said, with a trimphant smile, "See? It was there all along, waiting to be a tree, but she couldn't see it!" The book could not be more beautiful or more important. Do not hesitate to explore it with your children. Especially after 9/11, but even independent of that, they need to know their sometimes depressed feelings are not abnormal and there is a way to express them, and a reason to hope. The Red Tree could also help to alleviate the stress they may feel in perceiving parental distress, by illustrating that no condition is hopeless. In the unlikely child with a perpetually happy state of mind, there is no reason to shield them from understanding the feelings of others, and Tan makes this possible for even young readers, through engrossingly vivid, but not gruesome or frightening, images. It awakens compassion, empathy and strength. It is nothing short of a masterpeice. Here is Phoebe: "I thought it was perfectly fine. I loved the pictures!"
5.0 out of 5 stars
Shaun Tan's Red Tree powerful,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Red Tree (Hardcover)
The Red Tree has become a powerful symbol in our family for hope and strong positive feelings. We've been to the Out of the Box festival in Brisbane, Queensland where the play of the book premiered, and it is true to the story and concepts Shaun Tan was painting. His detailed imagery provides hours of enjoyment for young readers and old to explore their feelings, their reactions. His illustrations cater to the thinking child who doesn't need everything handed to them on a plate in primary colours. We look forward to more from Shaun Tan.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A beautiful book on hope,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Red Tree (Hardcover)
This book may seem "depressing" at first, but then you have to read it again. The red tree, or hope, at first seems to be a destination at the end...and that if you can get through all the crap in life, you'll reach a state of happiness. But then, you might notice that there is a red leaf on every page of the book...to show that the red tree did not grow in the course of the day and that it existed only at the end, but that it was there all along if one had the eye to see it. If the red tree is like hope and vocation, then the book seems to be saying that we shouldn't displace them to the future, but look for them in the present and in the finite. This is a much deeper book than one might think at first glance.
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