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Based on the Oscar award-winning short film, this book asks important questions: What does it mean to see things differently? What is important to notice?

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The Lost Thing is a humorous story about a boy who discovers a bizarre-looking creature whilst out collecting bottle-tops at the beach. Having guessed that it is lost, he tries to find out who owns it or where it belongs, but the problem is met with indifference by everyone else, who barely notice it´s presence. Each is unhelpful in their own way; strangers, friends, parents all unwilling to entertain this uninvited interruption to day-to-day life.

In spite of his better judgement, the boy feels sorry for this hapless creature, and attempts to find out where it belongs.

Shaun Tan creates intricate collages filled with whimsical images, bright colors, and meaningful prose. He invites his readers to look at the world in a different way.

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This book is a quest for the "Lost Thing" to find a place where it belongs. But perhaps even more, it is also a quest for meaning on the part of the reader. guardian.co.uk 20150402

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Tan, Shaun

Shaun Tan was born in 1974 and grew up in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. In school he became known as the ´good drawer´ which partly compensated for always being the shortest kid in every class. He graduated from the University of WA in 1995 with joint honours in Fine Arts and English Literature, and currently works full time as a freelance artist and author in Melbourne.

Shaun began drawing and painting images for science fiction and horror stories in small-press magazines as a teenager, and has since become best known for illustrated books that deal with social, political and historical subjects through surreal, dream-like imagery. Books such as The Rabbits , The Red Tree, The Lost Thing and the acclaimed wordless novel The Arrival have been widely translated throughout Europe, Asia and South America, and enjoyed by readers of all ages. Shaun has also worked as a theatre designer, and worked as a concept artist for the films Horton Hears a Who and Pixar´s WALL-E. He is currently directing a short film with Passion Pictures Australia; his most recently published book is Tales from Outer Suburbia.

Shaun is the winner of the 2011 Astrid Lindgren prize, the world´s richest children´s literature award. The awad described Shaun as ´a masterly visually storyteller´.

The Lost Thing animation recently won an Oscar for the best animated short film.

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