The Red Tree - Shaun Tan - Worksheets

Shaun Tan’s The Red Tree is a masterful exploration of themes like belonging, alienation and depression. These two worksheets assist high-school age students in deconstructing the text effectively.

The first worksheet is a general one focusing on the message of the story and the emotional journey of the protagonist, as well as addressing the use of metaphor, aspects of image selection and the way the text works visually with the images.

The second worksheet focuses on symbols, using both table and short-answer format to analyse the extensive use of symbols throughout the book. An extended writing task is provided at the end.

Both worksheets are included in Word and pdf formats to ensure compatibility.

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While you’re here, why not check out these other resources on picture books for older readers?

• The Rabbits (Shaun Tan and John Marsden)
• The Lost Thing (Shaun Tan)
• The Arrival (Shaun Tan)
• Cicada (Shaun Tan)
• Eric (Shaun Tan)
• The Island (Armin Greder)
• Australia to Z (Armin Greder)
• Woolvs in the Sitee (Margaret Wild and Anne Spudvilas)
• Girl on Wire (Lucy Estela and Elise Hurst)
• Flight (Nadia Wheatley and Armin Greder)