Picture Book Haul: Shaun Tan's Rules of Summer

Oh boy.. not really sure about this one.


Rules of Summer
Shaun Tan
ISBN: 9780545639125

In a lot of ways, I think of Shaun Tan as the slightly more graphically-inclined psychological twin of Neil Gaiman.  They both write these amazing, off-kilter stories that manage to be simultaneously totally ominous and cautiously optimistic, and with an edge of mystery and danger.  I think that like Coraline, many adults are going to read this (look at this) and say "Oh My GOD, the CHILDREN WILL FREAK OUT!" because we as adults freak out, while the children reading it just shrug and say "Yep, life is crazy weird and unfair, and basically sucks a whole lot, but it is what it is."

So, what exactly is this?

Not sure.  It will probably be very different for everyone, depending on how optimistic or pessimistic they are, whether they were an older or younger sibling, whether their siblings got along with them, deferred to them, or beat the shit out of them, whether they are confident or worried about being caught faking adulthood, whether they had (and remember) the utterly insane and totally horrific imaginary lives of children...

The outline - and a stark and grim outline it is - is in two parts.  The artwork shows an older boy and a younger boy (the jacket flap identifies them as brothers, but the story (such as it is) doesn't make that obvious or necessary) engaging in various activities in a world of monstrous beings, where the older boy is confident and successful, and the younger is screwing up or being screwed over.  The narration simply recites the Rules of Summer, which infers that the younger boy is violating said rules, thus explaining why his life is sucking so much.

A deeper look at the artwork and the mood of the progressing story shows a much grimmer story, where the two boys seem to live in a world where they are outliers and strangers, and where a hostile force (the black bird) is monitoring them closely every moment of their lives, and eventually breaking them apart.


Now for the interpretations:

On a fairly straightforward approach, it tells the story of a younger boy who is constantly trying to be loved and accepted and respected by his older brother.  It tells clearly how powerful that desire can be, and brutally reveals how the people you love can (will?) betray and wound you deeply, and poses the question (to the readers at least - one of the final Rules is "Never ask for a reason" and an even later is "Never wait for an apology") of whether trust and love are enough of a compensation for that inevitable betrayal that appears as the coming of winter.

On a different slightly slanted approach, it tells the story of two young people trying desperately to survive and find enjoyment in a world that seems to be arbitrary and punitive and designed for beings and understandings that are manifestly NOT theirs.  In this approach, the older boy is more of a guide, perhaps passing on these rules because of past negative experiences of his own.  Here the reader wonders about things like parents and society and the history of this world.

In an even different angle, it shows how hard it is to be an older sibling, tasked with caring for (or even raising) a younger one.  The older one tries hard to include the younger, and to instruct him in what he needs to learn to get along in society, but the younger continually screws up and causes trouble that the elder then has to resolve or otherwise mitigate.  In this reading, the black bird becomes a visual representation of frustration and burnout, with the elder brother finally falling prey to temptation to offload his responsibilities for a much shinier alternative, and then trying to atone for his temporary lapse.

Whatever interpretation you bring, it's a gritty, dark story of responsibility and love and the connections between people and their world, where life can flip from being cruel and arbitrary to being wondrous and fulfilling - sometimes even in the same exact moment.