Delightfully weird and poignant! ( )

Cicada tells the story of a hardworking little cicada who is completely unappreciated for what he does. But in the end, just when you think he's given up, he makes a transformation into something ineffably beautiful.

Weirdly, though the other ones from Tan are wordless picture stories—what I’d think are more accessible for kids—this one reads like a pre-K children’s picture book with its word->picture structure, and yet its content is probably only meaningful/accessible for adults. Would’ve liked a much longer and more detailed world from Cicada’s point-of-view, which Tan has proven himself very good at developing visually. Something in the vein of the video game INSIDE would’ve been interesting. ( )

Cicale tutte a foresta tornano.
A volte pensano a Umani.
A smettere di ridere non riescono.

Silenzio:
graffia la pietra
la voce delle cicale
(Matsuo Basho)

( )

This was such a sad little book! It really made me feel bad for Cicada. ( )