Books For Keeps
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Articles
  • Past Issues
  • Latest Issue
  • Authors and Artists
  • Latest News
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
July 1, 2015/in I Wish I'd Written /by Richard Hill
This article is featured in BfK 213 July 2015
This article is in the I Wish I'd Written Category

I Wish I’d Written: Guy Bass

Author: Guy Bass

Reading children’s books these days often engenders in me a niggling element of professional jealousy. If only I’d had that idea … if only I’d constructed that sentence … if only I’d got even close to that level of brilliance. But there are some books where that dissolves, where you feel lucky that you didn’t write it because that would mean you wouldn’t have been able to read it in the first place.

The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan is a world in a book – as transporting on the tenth read as the first. Of course, it looks beautiful – every inch of every page is illustrated, evoking a sort of accidental dystopia that’s both inviting and sad – but it’s the text that makes the story feel so effortless. It has one of the lightest touches of any book I’ve read. A boy finds a benign, living ‘thing’ (what looks like a giant alien robot washer-dryer) on a beach, decides that it must be lost and tries to help. It’s a big, strange idea but plays out like a casual anecdote, never attempting to be anything other than everyday in tone. At the same time, the book muses rather than moralizes on our need to categorize, compartmentalize and ghettoize, and on our tendency to see difference as inconvenience. And somehow there’s not a hint of heavy-handedness or judgment anywhere. It’s an absolute cracker.

In fact it’s so good that I’m glad I didn’t write it. But I really wish I had.

The Lost Thing (978-0734411389) by Shaun Tan is published by Hodder Children’s Books at £9.99 pbk.

Guy Bass’ new book, The Ghosts of Grubbers Nubbin (978-1847156099), is published by Stripes Publishing, £5.99 pbk

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png 0 0 Richard Hill http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png Richard Hill2015-07-01 09:15:532021-11-27 17:58:14I Wish I’d Written: Guy Bass
Download BfK Issue Bfk 272 May 2025
Skip to an Issue:

Related Articles

I Wish I’d Written: Adeola Sokunbi
Bfk 271 March 2025
I Wish I’d Written: Stewart Foster
Bfk 270 January 2025
I Wish I’d Written: Laurence Anholt
Bfk 268 September 2024
I wish I’d Written: Caroline Pitcher
Bfk 267 July 2024
I Wish I’d Written: Louise Forshaw
Bfk 266 May 2024
I Wish I’d Written: Alex T Smith
Bfk 265 March 2024
I Wish I’d Written: Laura Ellen Anderson
BfK 264 January 2024
I Wish I’d Written: Dave Shelton
BfK 261 July 2023

About Us

Launched in 1980, we’ve reviewed hundreds of new children’s books each year and published articles on every aspect of writing for children.

Read More

Follow Us

Latest News

Inclusive Books for Children book-gifting scheme expands again

June 18, 2025

School Library Association Announces 2025 Shortlists for the Information Book Award

June 17, 2025

Choice and reading relevant to their interests = reading for pleasure

June 11, 2025

Contact Us

Books for Keeps,
30 Winton Avenue,
London,
N11 2AT

Telephone: 0780 789 3369

ISSN: 0143-909X (this is our International Standard Serial Number).

© Copyright 2025 - Books For Keeps | Proudly Built by Lemongrass Media - Web Design Buckinghamshire
Good Reads: Manor High School Book Events for Children – Summer Highlights
Scroll to top