The Viewer, by Cary Crew, ill. Shaun Tan. Simply Read Books, 2003.

Summary: An always-curious boy discovers a magical Viewmaster-type device in the dump and views the story of human progress and destruction through it.

Analysis: This is much darker than Tan's solo work that I've read so far. It's beautiful and simple and rather disturbing. It stops just short of actually condemning humanity for the march of "progress", leaving that to the reader. And given the ending, it's rather unclear exactly what message, if any, you're supposed to draw from it. The unusual cover design (the letters in the title are actually holes showing the title page) is very eye-catching and will grab people even if they just flip through it and put it down again. There is a lot of sensory imagery -- the text describes the sounds in great detail, and coupled withe the illustrations it's enveloping.

Illustrations: Full-color digital images in fairly standard picture-book layout; the plates on the viewer are done in the style of period artwork, and the background is a stormy mass of red and black. The text is in a contrasting white.

Rating: 5Q/4p

Curricular connections: Good for a high-school history or art class, or for an English or creative writing class, especially given the marvelous use of sensory imagery to draw on.

-- SLH