The Red Tree

Shaun Tan (author/illustrations)

Lothian Books, Australia: 2001

ISBN: 0734401728

Genre: picture book

Issues: depression, hope, isolation, mental health,

CBCA, Honour Book, 2002.

The Red Tree is a book about despair - and hope. It begins with pictures that are less than half the size of the page. Illustrated in muted, drab colours of browns and greys, the images are enclosed in a square, echoing the shut-in and miserable feeling of the character.

 Tension and anxiety is reflected in the increasing size of illustrations that have a nightmarish quality - monsters, buildings that look like machines, brick walls and locked windows between darkness and images of hope. The text is very simple, intended to be a written trigger to the emotions embedded in the images, but as a result carries many layers of subtext. This is very much a picture book to be shared, and one that will stimulate a whole range of discussions at different times during the reader's life. The conclusion is quite inspirational, as the child-like figure who has been passing through the nightmarish and oppressive landscapes, opens her bedroom door to find the red tree of hope growing beside her bed - ‘but suddenly there it is, right in front of you, bright and vivid, quietly waiting, just as you imagined it would be.' Quite a remarkable book and certainly one that should be in every school and local library.

Shaun Tan has become well-known for the power of his illustrations, having worked previously with such authors as Gary Crew (The Viewer, Memorial) and John Marsden (The Rabbits). The Lost Thing, written and illustrated by Shaun Tan, was also a CBCA Honour Book.

Highly recommended.