Eric by Shaun Tan

Shaun Tan is an amazing author whose dominant style is that of picture books which deal with social, historical, cultural and political issues. Eric by Shaun Tan was originally released as a mini story in a compilation type book called Tales from Outer Suburbia. However due to its great success and interest from the public it has now been re-released in its own pocket sized book.

This is Eric!

He is a quirky little hand sized foreign exchange student who lives with a suburban family for a period of time. The story plays with ideas about the cultural differences and misunderstandings that can be present in everyday life for many foreigners. In Eric's case this includes doing and saying unusual things such as living in the pantry and asking why a drain hole looks like a flower.

It is a cute little story which has simple images compared to Tan's normal style of illustrating. The text tends to drive the story and is told from a first person narration style from a young boy who is part of Eric's host family. The story does not have any conflicts or any real setting but is still so fascinating. Eric appears all of sudden then disappears all of a sudden but you never known anything more than the brief time he spent with the host family, you do not know what came before or after his visit. The reader is open to imagine the finer details of Eric's existence and you wish you new more because he is such a loveable little creature!

Perhaps the greatest delight I received from this book is the type of person or animal that Eric represents. To me Eric is someone who comes into your life for a short period of time but leaves you with an amazing gift you can share for a lifetime. If you read the story you might understand what I mean by this... but that is the best thing about Tan, he is open to interpretation!...