The Red Tree

by Shaun Tan
TEACHERS NOTES
Prepared by Nancy Mortimer

Sometimes the day begins with nothing to look forward to An anonymous child awakes to find blackened leaves falling from her bedroom ceiling, threatening to quietly overwhelm her . She wanders down a street overshadowed by a huge lifeless fish that floats above her, imagines herself trapped in a bottle washed up on a forgotten shore, lost in a strange landscape, caught between towering ships about to collide or being on stage before an audience, not knowing what shes supposed to do. Just as it seems all hope is lost, the girl returns to her bedroom to find a tiny red seedling growing in the middle of the floor , which, once noticed, becomes a vivid red tree that fills the room with warm light Shaun Tans blurb for his new title The Red T , . ree
which he has both written and illustrated.

These notes are available at no charge from the Lothian Books website (www.lothian.com.au). Please feel free to photocopy.
Thomas C. Lothian Pty Ltd Level 5, 132-136 Albert Road, South Melbourne, Victoria 3205 Copyright Thomas C. Lothian 2001

The Red T is a fascinating and thoughtree provoking book which has been carefully considered in every detail. The book needs to be presented to young children in a secure and caring atmosphere where they can safely explore the many feelings and emotions it portrays. Read the story and elicit different childrens responses to The Red T Allow children to ree. give their own version of the story. Read the story to a group and ask them to make a list of words that come to mind when they look at a particular image. Ask children to paint pictures and images to express their own feelings. Talk with children about the human condition that everybody has times they feel down or discouraged, but there is always something to look forward to. Look at the style of the text the words are minimal and simple, yet have underlying complexity and allow the individual to imagine, empathise or identify with a range of emotions that are part of the human condition. Language and Literacy Where does the book get its name from? How does the red tree appear? What is the significance of the red tree? What does it stand for? Look at the way in which Shaun Tan uses circular images and text and how The Red T ree comes full circle. Pair activity Working in pairs, students can take a page of their choice and write new words for it. Similarly, they can take the words from one page and develop their own drawings to accompany them, thus recording their own individual responses.

Look at the use of metaphors. We all use similes and metaphors to express how we feel more graphically. Together with the class, compile a list of these which reflect how we feel, such as: I feel as sick as a dog, out like a light, feeling blue, sunshine of her smile, Im so hot Im melting. Look through both the words and illustrations to find things that make connections and threads throughout the book; for example, the image of the little girl and the image of the snail. On the other hand the story can be taken one page or an image at a time. Discuss what each spread adds to the overall concept of the book Symbols There are very good examples of objects representing something else. Talk about one thing standing for another, or meaning something else to us, by association or relationship, for instance the dice and the hourglass in the story. Allow the group to find objects or things that recur for a reason, for instance the red leaf on every page. Talk about why these are there and what their meaning is. Make a list of what things represent happiness, sadness, hope and fate. Find some further examples of symbols from the text, be they visual or words. Make up your own symbols in drawings and words explain what these stand for. Scale The juxtaposition of large and small, monstrous and tiny has an effect on the way we interpret things and the way we feel. Look at the relationship of objects to one another and what affect this has. List some examples from the book.

Scope. The way we see things is very personal and dependent on how we feel. The Red T reeis full of opportunities for unhampered thought or development. Explore this concept further by getting the groups different views on parts of the story. We have the ability to go anywhere in our minds. Discuss the idea of hope. The class can contribute their own examples. Vocabulary Make a list of happy words. Make a list of words that express sadness or confusion. Find some words that remind you of something hard. Find more words that go with different feelings and emotions. Music Look at the place of sound in The Red T ree. What images remind you of different noises and sounds? Pair activity Have children devise in pairs some music that is happy or sad. If they are able to play an instrument they can choose a piece to play to the rest of the class. Otherwise they can bring a recorded version of something they have chosen. There is also the possibility of having the class experiment with a range of instruments to make their own sounds percussion with tins and drums, clapping sticks, lager phones, home-made stringed instruments such as tea chest basses, combs and tissue paper and so on. Discussion There are innumerable subjects that arise from this book that can be discussed further. Talk about: life and its ups and downs the impact of positive thought and the influence of negative thought. the power of the imagination. 3

There can be further discussion about: attitude and interpretation degrees of feeling positive thought to override depression. what a smile means, and other facial expressions. Perspective plays an important part in Shaun Tans work. The reading of a work of art often depends on the readers perspective. What perspective does the child have on looking out the widow, for instance? Talk about this further with the class. The word perspective can be looked at both from the point of view of how we interpret things and the artists point of view. For example, we see the snail both close up and from afar. What are concepts? Questions that can be asked: What would I do...? What if Do we all have the same standards? Have children look up quotations about, or references to, hope in books in the library pool these and then discuss the effects of using such terminology. Illustrations Look at Shaun Tans illustrations in detail and allow children to make their own comments and talk about their individual reactions to the images. Let them read the pictures and find the ray of hope on every page. What part does colour play in Shaun Tans work? Look at how he has used light and shade, and brightness and dark. What does the colour red do? Look at other colours and their impact. How do you interpret different colours? Do we all have the same responses to particular colours?

Look particularly at the use of shapes circles, rounded shapes and what feelings these elicit. What about angular and severe shapes? How do we feel when we look at these? Allow the children to volunteer comments and make their own suggestions after looking closely at particular pictures. Design Look at the way the images are placed on the page and the way they are varied. Talk about what effect this has on the overall book. Look particularly at the images around the border and examine these in detail. Discuss why Shaun Tan has chosen to put them there. Look at the way the words are placed on the page and make comments and draw conclusions as to why they are like this. Pair activities Have children make up their own story about how they feel and design a format for a book. Writing Tell the story in your own words. Write a poem about hope. About the author: Shaun Tan has an outstanding reputation for his illustrative work. He won the Spectrum Gold Award for Book Illustration2000 and in also the Crichton Awar (The Viewer) in d 1995. The Rabbits , written by John Marsden, was CBCA Picture Book of the Year received and the Aurealis Convenors Awar 1999; and d in Memorial, written by Gary Crew, was a CBCA Honour Booknd also won an APA Design a Award in 2000. He wrote and illustrated The Lost Thing, published in 2000. The Lost Thing has been shortlisted for this years CBCA Picture Book of the Year , which will be announced in August during Book Week. The Lost Thing has also been shortlisted for many other awards, including the NSW and 4

WA Premiers Awards received an and Honourable Mention in the BolognaRagazzi Awards in 2001 Shaun Tan has been a leading science-fiction illustrator in Australia for several years. Recognition of his talent has included the bestowing of the Illustrators of theFuture Awar 1991 and the Australian d National Science Fiction Best Artist Awar d 1995, 1996. The Red Tree is his fifth picture book.