office bathroom.
Cicada go downtown.
Twelve blocks.
Each time company
dock pay.
Tok Tok Tok!
Human never
finish work."
Shaun Tan calls this book the 'simplest' book he has written yet. I have read almost every one of his children's books time and time again, and none of them seem simple. That holds true for me here as well. It is the same length as a traditional picture book for kids ... 32 pages, tells a story, and is illustrated. It is, however, not like other picture books I have shared.
For one thing, I have rarely posted a picture book that I would recommend only for those who are adolescents, and adults. I think it will only be meaningful to them. They have the ability to understand and discuss the subject matter, and find meaning in it.
The cicada is its subject. A cicada that works in an office environment, where humans also work. The cicada is virtually ignored unless someone chooses to bully it. Even those interactions between insect and human are few and far between. Its work is monotonous - same desk, same building, same daily grind. It is not recognized as human or given any of the amenities the humans enjoy. In fact, it lives in a space in the office wall where its presence is ignored, and must walk downtown to use bathroom facilities.
Despite the lack of concern or kindness, the cicada is productive, conscientious, and always at work. No sick days, no promotions. Its retirement goes unnoticed, unrewarded, and definitely unremarkable - until it climbs to the rooftop, steps onto the ledge, and transforms.
A quiet time is needed after the book is read. That time allows readers to consider what is happening in their own heads. It begs thought concerning immigrant workers, introverts, those who are different, and should point everyone who reads toward empathy and perhaps, kindness.
Tan paints the cicada in a rumpled gray suite with four arms, a clip-on, barcode ID badge, the only color is its brilliant green head. Everything else about the office environment is gray. Thankfully, there is humor is the cicada's speech and the repeated 'Tok Tok Tok!' it utters. Its transformation brings great joy, and a last laugh. Have I said this before? Don't miss the endpapers!
Shaun Tan is a master at telling wondrous stories. Here, he proves it all over again.
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