Lawley, Tan relocated to Melbourne, Victoria in 2007. After freelancing for some years from a studio at Mt. Shaun Tan (born 1974) is the illustrator and author of award-winning children’s books. Simultaneously sobering and uplifting, it will lead thoughtful readers to contemplate othering in their own lives. No Kafkaesque conclusion here metamorphosis brings liberation and joy. An orange-red winged nymph emerges and joins a sky full of friends flying to the forest, where they have the last laugh. The oil paintings of shadowy, cramped spaces transition to a brightened sky a split in Cicada’s body reveals a molten glow. Tok Tok Tok!” The last line is a refrain following each brief description, suggesting both the sound of a clock (time passing) and the notion of cicada “talk.” Upon retiring, he ascends the long stairway to the skyscraper’s ledge. Cicada language is primitive and rhythmic: “Seventeen year. Readers will recognize forms of marginalization throughout, i.e., the elevator buttons are too high, poverty forces residency in the office wall. Despite his exceptional performance and strong work ethic, he must walk blocks to a bathroom and is physically bullied. The green data entry clerk works in a gray maze of cubicles. Oriented vertically, the insect does not reach the top of his human co-workers’ desks, thus skewing the perspective so their heads are not visible. Tan’s narratives often critique traditional office culture this one features the inhumane treatment of the protagonist, a cicada dressed in a four-armed gray suit, complete with tie and pocket square. Kirkus Reviews starred (November 15, 2018) Illustrated with graceful restraint, this book is a stirring vignette of a life lived against the grain.
But for older readers drawn to unusual narrative formats, this book could work wonders with its nuanced, hopeful depiction of individuality. As Tan’s books often do, this seems to defy categorization-its themes, admittedly, are perhaps too mature for the standard picture-book crowd. Tan juxtaposes the heartrending despondency of the story with a new sense of wonder as we see the cicada begin anew outside of his dreary office, just as the muted tones of the man-made office building are ignited by the verdant, gleaming cicada itself. Tok Tok Tok!” We see the Cicada retire quietly from its mundane, thankless job, homeless and impoverished-a pathos evenly played in Tan’s deft hand. Tan’s eponymous Cicada is a mistreated office worker in a grim office building, employed by a company truly Kafkaesque in its brutal devotion to minutiae.
From award-winning Tan comes another nonpareil picture book.
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