Eric – Shaun Tan
Allen & Unwin Children’s, 2010
48 pages
RRP: AU$9.99
ISBN: 978-1-74237-292-1

Reviewed by Liz Grzyb

Like all of Shaun Tan’s picture books, Eric is exquisitely produced. It is a beautiful small hardback, illustrated mostly in black and white.

It tells the story of a child whose family hosts a “foreign exchange student” who tells them to call him Eric when they can’t pronounce his name properly. The story is a beautifully naive retell of the family’s impressions of the boy’s stay with them, hinting at the “cultural things” that divide them, yet accepting and welcoming these differences and the changes they cause.

Tan’s images show the student as a tiny shadowlike creature, mesmerised by the strange things in the new world he has come to. He is small in a city of giants, unused to the flotsam and jetsam of our everyday lives, exploring and making the most of the new place he has come to. We see our lives through Eric’s fresh eyes. Occasionally there are shapes reminiscent of The Arrival, Tan’s graphic novel exploring the migrant experience, and there are some similarities of theme here.

Marketed as a picture book for children, Eric will delight all readers, especially those who enjoyed Tan’s previous titles. For those who have not come across these before, Eric is a brief peek into Tan’s surreal world.