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Imprint
- Lothian Children's Books
Cicada
Shaun Tan
Formats & Editions
WINNER OF THE CBCA PICTURE BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2019
Cicada work in tall building.
Data entry clerk. Seventeen year.
No sick day. No mistake.
Tok Tok Tok!
Cicada works in an office, dutifully toiling day after day for unappreciative bosses and being bullied by his coworkers. But one day, cicada goes to the roof of the building, and something truly extraordinary happens ...
A story for anyone who has ever felt unappreciated, overlooked or overworked, from Australia's most acclaimed picture book creator. This is Shaun Tan's first author-illustrator book in five years, and his most important and moving fable since The Arrival.
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Praise for Cicada
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quite simply a stunning work of art - Better ReadingThe illustrations are sublime, in detail, composition and texture, making CICADA an illustrated appreciation of the under appreciated, a book to be appreciated and cherished.A must for any child's library, CICADA transcends category and deserves a place in any library where the social, political and the surreal are celebrated. - Sydney Arts GuideCicada is a work that packs a punch regardless of your age. - The Garrett PodcastShaun Tan has done it again. Cicada is excellent. Although more distinctly a narrative picture book than some of his others, Cicada's darkness breeds a rich subtext that will serve well in classrooms and resonate with older children and adults. The journey of the eponymous cicada-an unappreciated, abused office worker-reimagines the peculiar life cycle of these extraordinary creatures in a stark, bleak, near-monochromatic human office environment, where all but the besuited insect are faceless, and the maze of cubicles look like Escher's might have if he'd had the joy stamped out of him. The concrete, minimalist illustrations Tan uses here contrast with his earlier work, and the seemingly simple story is multilayered, lending itself to various readings. Told in Cicada's broken English, the short narrative also conjures metaphors with the refugee experience. The mood of the story shifts at the end though it retains some ambiguity (the cathartic change in colour palette recalls the uplifting end of The Red Tree). Cicada's strangely addictive little refrain of 'Tok Tok Tok!', which echoes the insect's call as well as a mindless, keyboard-tapping corporate world, will stay with you, as will this beautiful book. - Books and Publishing
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