Tales from Outer Suburbia

By: Shaun Tan
Arthur A. Levine Books, 2008
Reading Level: 6.5 (Accelerated Reader)
Guided Reading


Book Description: Fantasy Fiction, Graphic Novel, Short Stories

Things are not always as they appear and this is definitely apparent in Tales from Outer Suburbia.  This collection of short stories and illustrations by Shaun Tan is a thought provoking mix of open-ended tales that all take place in the suburbs of Australia.  Direction giving water buffalo, a finger sized foreign exchange student, and walking stick figures are all characters in this fable-esque graphic novel.

*Teacher Resources for Tales from Outer Suburbia

Supporting Electronic Sources:
ReadWriteThink
Use this website to find lesson plans on short stories and fables.  This hyperlinked lesson in particular combines illustrations, artwork, and short stories just as Tales from Outer Suburbia does.  Use this website either before or after reading.
Cooperative Children's Book Center
The Cooperative Children's Book Center offers a bibliography which lists hundreds of other graphic novels that may be interesting to children.  Focus on student interests and use this list to foster reading for those who enjoy graphic novels.

Vocabulary:
vacant, speculation, perplexing, weathered, dugong, bewilderment, cryptic, perilous, explicitly, sternly, sentinel, ballistic, mantra

Teaching Suggestions:
-Discuss the characteristics of a short story
-Have students respond to open-endings of the stories using information from the text
-Examine the importance of pictures in a graphic novel

Comprehension Strategies:
Before Reading- Look at the pictures in the story and hypothesize as to what the story will be about.  Mention how graphic novels contain many pictures and these pictures are used to tell a story.
During Reading- Use questioning while reading these stories.  Many of them contain messages that can only be obtained through inferential comprehension so use questions to judge how well students are looking beyond the literal meaning of the stories.
After Reading- For the stories that are open-ended, predict what will happen based on information from the story.  This will require students to use their knowledge of the story to make an educated guess.

Writing Prompt:
Have students create their own open ended short stories.