The Red Tree

By Shaun Tan,

Book cover of The Red Tree

Book description

Awakening one day to a dark and somber mood, a little girl faces a day where everything goes very badly, and seeks hope amid her sadness.

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Why read it?

2 authors picked The Red Tree as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I’ll be honest: The Red Tree is a book I’ve read countless times. It’s one of my favorite books. It might seem on the surface like a children’s book, as it has very few words and amazing illustrations, but it’s not.

It’s a book that seems like it’s about depression – a place “where darkness overcomes you” and the “world is a deaf machine” – but it’s not. It’s a book about hope. It’s about how hope is always there in the darkest of places, even when you think there is no hope left.

The illustrations are quintessential, as Shaun…

I bought The Red Tree many years ago because I thought its cover was so beautiful. I didn't even know its author, but from then on he became one of my favorite illustrators. And even today, I can say that The Red Tree is my favorite book of all time. It may seem it's about sadness or depression, but I prefer to think that it's the book that best defines hope. It is a book that I usually give to my friends when they are having a hard time. Because in the end, it is about this: we cannot avoid…

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