Tan is an incredible artist with a strong sense of the absurd. His 2007 book, The Arrival, was a wordless story about immigration. This one is highly illustrated short stories about everyday life.
Each tale stands alone, but together they give a bigger picture of the world. All are a little strange, kind of dream-like, and many of the characters don't seem to be human (more monsters and aliens, from the pictures) although they're extremely human in nature. Tan's illustrations are low-contrast in color, and extremely detailed in illustration: the book's endpapers can be a 20-minute exploration in themselves.
This is the kind of book that makes me feel like maybe I'm not smart enough. There's a lot going on here, and maybe I'm not getting it all. But that's not a bad thing - it's actually an excellent book I'd recommend highly. And definitely worth a read-along so you can discuss what's really happening and how you see it.
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