Eric, written by Shaun Tan, reviewed by Judy Hauser

Summary: This is a beautiful book that children and adults will enjoy. Originally published in 2009 this story is important now more than ever. A leaf, who is identified as a foreign exchange student, stays with a family and soon decides to sleep in the pantry. As the family tries to share their lives, including places of interest Eric is pretty much unresponsive. The now grown child narrating the story explains that he didn't really have answers when Eric asked questions. And, by the way, the name Eric was suggested by the visiting student as the family could not pronounce his real name. The illustrations are perfect. They show Eric picking up odds and ends on his journeys with the family and how he reacts with the family. The story says so much about different people, cultures (even though we do not know much about Eric or the host family), what we know about ourselves and what we do not know about others. The ending is a very nice surprise. The book should elicit some interesting discussions with children. 

Straight Talk for Librarians: A great book for discussion on what we know about our culture, other cultures and social issues.