Book Review by Aarene Storms: The Singing Bones

The Singing Bones by Shaun Tan

Artist/author Shaun Tan, who surprised and delighted the world with The Arrival in 2006, has created another book to startle the readers into thinking.

Small scraps from 75 Brothers Grimm folktales combine with photos of Tan's alluring, tactile, and unnerving sculptures to make something entirely new.

Some stories, like "The Frog King" are familiar. Yet, when placed beside the frog's picture with beseeching hands lifted, the story is transformed.

Other stories are more obscure. I had never read the story of "Foundling" but I will never forget the art that is paired with it in this book:

Read this book with a friend nearby, so you can share the strangeness and the wonder of it.

The events may not have happened; still, the story is true.  --R. Silvern


Aarene Storms,
youth services librarian
Richmond Beach and Lake Forest Park Libraries, KCLS