Fiction, Fantasy & YA: Lost & Found

Lost & Found
By Shaun Tan

Tan, Shaun. Lost & Found. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2011. 9780545229241

Plot Summary

Lost & Found consists of three short stories. The first story, called The Red Tree, follows a lonely girl through her sad day. She starts her day by thinking "things go from bad to worse" and feels darkness following her like a great fish overhead. Nobody understands and her troubles fall on deaf ears as she waits, and waits, and waits but nothing ever happens. All her troubles come at once as her life passes her by. The day feels like it might end as it began, but when she returns home she finds a beautiful red tree growing in her room, just as she imagined it would be.

The second story, called The Lost Thing, is a story about how a boy met a lost thing and helped it find a new place in the world. The boy walked along the beach, searching for bottle-tops, when he saw the lost thing with a "sad, lost sort of look". They talked together and played together, and the boy decided that he would help the lost thing find its way back home. Together they searched high and low, asking anyone they met if they knew where the lost thing had come from. No one could help them. The boy took the lost thing home, but he knew it couldn't stay in his shed forever. He thought "it was a real dilemma". After following the advice of an advertisement in the paper and being deterred by a helpful stranger who showed them a card with an arrow on it, the boy and the lost thing decided to try following the arrows. They followed the arrows to a hidden place that was full of other lost things that weren't so lost anymore. None of the things really belonged there, but they were happy enough and maybe that was all that really mattered.

The third story, called The Rabbits, details how the rabbits came many grandparents ago. They looked a little bit like the other animals, but they didn't "understand the right ways". They only knew their own country, and they made their own houses and used their own language. They kept coming on boats and spread across the country; nothing could stop them. Sometimes the other animals fought, but there were too many rabbits and the animals lost the fights. The rabbits ravished the environment and stole their children. The rich, dark earth disappeared, and the land was bare and brown. Who will save them from the rabbits?

Analysis

Shaun Tan, both the author and illustrator of this graphic novel has written three stories that don't appear to be connected at first glance but share a deeper meaning. According to himself, each story is about the relationship between people and places and how that relationship can be disrupted by physical displacement, emotional disconnection, or a troubled sense of identity. These three stories are low fantasy, with fantastical machines and personified animals throughout. His characters are well crafted and each radiates a different emotion that readers can identify with. In The Red Tree, the little girl is drawn feeling very sad and lonely, but hopeful in the end. In The Lost Thing, the lost thing makes noises that convey human emotions like happiness and apprehension. In The Rabbits, the animals from whom the story's perspective is based on show fear and righteous anger towards the rabbits.

The theme of these three stories are not as typical for a fantasy novel. There is no good or evil, unless you count the invasive rabbits. There is no power struggle, or wonderful quest that they must complete. Instead, the theme of these three stories focuses on the self and the battles within. In The Red Tree, the girl deals with her identity and sadness, in The Lost Thing, the boy and the lost thing work together to find where the lost thing fits into the world, and in The Rabbits, the animals deal with the loss of their way of life. Shaun has tackled complicated themes and has risen to the task well. He illustrated each story in a way that brought the characters and surrounding world out of the pages. Some pages are simple and some are filled to to bursting. Each time that these stories are read, more details will be noticed as readers focus more on the illustrations and less on the words.

Jonathan Hunt with Horn Book Magazine wrote, "Since something in each story is both lost and found, the title perfectly captures the thematic connection. And Tan’s superb artwork— quirky, surreal, paradoxically inviting and alienating—is tailored to each story without any loss of his signature style."

Hunt, Jonathan. 2011. “[Lost & Found].” Horn Book Magazine 87 (3): 77–78. https://search-ebscohost-com.ezp.twu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=brd&AN=518530148&site=ehost-live.

Awards

Aurealis Conveners' Award for Excellence for The Rabbits

Children's Book Council of Australia, Picture Book of the Year, Winner for The Rabbits

Spectrum Gold Award for Book Illustration for The Rabbits

Western Australian Premier's Book Awards, Writing for Young Adults award, Shortlisted for Lost Thing

Ditmar Award, Artwork, Winner for The Lost Thing

Children's Book Council of Australia, Picture Book of the Year, Honour Book for The Lost Thing

Western Australian Premier's Book Awards, Children's Books, Shortlisted for Red Tree

Children's Book Council of Australia, Picture Book of the Year, Honour Book for The Red Tree

New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children's Literature Winner for Red Tree

Connections

Shaun Tan has written several other books, such as The Arrival and Rules of Summer that readers can explore if they enjoyed his artwork and storytelling.

For other graphic novels that explore unique themes:

Deutsch, Barry: How Mirka Got Her Sword. 9780810984226

For a darker set of stories:

Gorey, Edward: Amphigorey. 9780399504334

Stiefvater, Maggie: Swamp Thing: Twin Branches. 9781401293239