For Tristan, the city dump was a treasure trove, full of mystery. He would take each sad, broken and dirty thing apart to see how each could be made to tick or whirr or ring. Then he found the box. It was filled with lenses, polished glass, microscope, monocle, magnifying glass and a viewmaster. What Tristan saw through the dark orbs as he clicked the viewer was like nothing he had ever seen before. He clicked more slowly, then crept into bed, trembling.
Author Biography: Queensland author Gary Crew has an outstanding reputation as a writer of young adult fiction and innovative picture books. His numerous prizes and awards include CBC Book of the Year: Older Readers for Strange Objects and Angel's Gate (1991 and 1994); CBC Picture Book of the Year shortlisting for Lucy's Bay (1993); CBC Picture Book of the Year for First Light (1994) and CBC Picture Book of the Year for The Watertower (1995). Gary was editor of the After Dark series and author of the picture books First Light, The Lost Diamonds of Killiecrankie, Bright Star, The Viewer, Troy Thompson's Excellent Peotry Book, Troy Thompson's Radical Prose Folio, Memorial and Leo the Lion Tamer. His previous Lothian YA Fiction titles are Mama's Babies and Dear Venny, Dear Saffron.
About the Illustrator: Shaun Tan has an outstanding reputation for his illustrative work. He won the Crichton Award for Book Illustration (The Viewer) in 1995. His collaborative effort with John Marsden, The Rabbits was named CBC Picture Book of the Year in 1999. Memorial was his third picture book. He has been a leading science-fiction illustrator in Australia for several years; with recognition including the Illustrators of the FutureAward (1991) and the Australian National Science Fiction Best Artist Award (1995, 1996). He contributes regular political cartoons to the Western Review and is the art editor and a regular contributor to Eidelon magazine.