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An app has been produced for author-illustrator Shaun Tan’s latest title, Rules of Summer (Hodder Children's Books), by Australian digital agency Wheelbarrow.
The app has been created in collaboration with Tan and Sophie Byrne, producer of Passion Pictures Australia, in conjunction with Hachette Australia.
Rules of Summer tells the story of two boys and their encounters over one remarkable summer, combining humour and surreal fantasy. Wheelbarrow’s app is designed to give users an interactive, immersive experience in full detail, capturing Tan’s oil paintings on a 200 mega-pixel Hasselblad digital camera. Tan’s original sketches and concept art can also be viewed.
New York composer Sxip Shirey has created the app's score, designed to complement Tan's dystopian landscapes.
Anne McNeil, publishing director of Hodder Children’s Books, said: “[Tan's] talent is breath-taking, his vision is unique, his stories are at once universal and individual . . . Tan is the David Almond of picture books—and that is the audience we are committed to reach.”
In addition to producing several acclaimed illustrated books, Australian Tan directed the Oscar-winning short film, "The Lost Thing", based on his book of the same name. In 2011 he received the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, honouring his contribution to international children's literature.
The Rules of Summer app is available through the Apple App store now.