The Lost Thing – Shaun Tan

Well I must admit I didn't realize this book existed until it won an Oscar for Best Animated Short film. The book was first published in 2000. It is told from the perspective of a boy and reads like a story of what he did on the holidays. While collecting bottle tops for his collection he comes across a large red thing that definitely looks lost. He tries to find where it belongs but most people really can't be bothered helping, even his parents loss interest in helping when he brings it home. He finds a advertisement in the paper for The Federal Department of Odds and Ends (with the Latin inscription (sweepus underum carpetae) which has a place for everything. As he fills in the reams paper work he is given a business card with a twisty arrow by a mysterious looking thing. The boy forgets the paper work and follows the twisty arrow signs and arrives at a marvellous place with many happy weird and marvellous things. Since the lost red thing made approving noises the boy leaves it there and went home to classify his bottle-top collection.
Illustrations are brilliant reminding my a little of steampunk. The story is very bland but it is the illustrations that bring humour and colour to the story. For example in the story the lost thing is never described, other than it is friendly, but it is a huge red pot shaped object with tentacle-like arms and legs. The illustrations of the Federal Department of Odds and Ends are very witty. No wonder it makes a good animation. You can see the trailer here.
The story is rather nonsensical but can seen as a metaphor for social concern. It raises issues of people who don't fit in, noticing them and finding a place for them to fit in as well as apathy toward strange lost things/ people. I love the boys summary at the end.... “I still think about that lost thing from time to time. Especially when I see something out of the corner of my eye that doesn't quite fit. You know, some with a weird, sad, lost sort of look. I see that sort of thing less and less these days though. Maybe there aren't many lost things around anymore. Or maybe I've just stopped noticing them. Too busy doing other stuff, I guess it reminds me that it is easy to get too busy and to slip into apathy.
9/10