If you haven’t yet read the works of Shaun Tan, do yourself a favor and get to the nearest bookstore or library and partake of the feast of stories and images he offers.He is quite possibly my favorite writer of illustrated books.  I hesitate to call him a children’s book writer, although that’s how he’s marketed.  But like many writers pushed into that category because markets are so narrowly defined, he is a storyteller for all ages.  

I think as we age out of picture books and take on the allegedly more serious task of reading only text, we begin to lose some of our visual literacy.  We become blind to the images and wonder all around us.  Adults watch television and movies, we play video games and read on-line reports rich with photographs, but we deny ourselves the “childish” pleasure of reading…