Winner of Australian Independent Booksellers Indie Awards: Children's Book 2008 and Aurealis Award for Excellence in Fiction: Best Illustrated Book or Graphic Novel 2008. Shortlisted for NSW Premier's Literary Award Patricia Wrightson Prize 2009 and Children's Book Council of Australia Awards: Book of the Year - Older Readers 2009 and Nielsen BookData/ABA Book of the Year Award - Booksellers' Choice 2009 and ABIA Australian Illustrated Book of the Year 2009.

Breathtakingly illustrated and hauntingly written, Tales from Outer Suburbia is by turns hilarious and poignant, perceptive and goofy. Through a series of captivating and sophisticated illustrated stories, Tan explores the precious strangeness of our existence. He gives us a portrait of modern suburban existence filtered through a wickedly Monty Pythonesque lens. Whether it’s discovering that the world really does stop at the end of the city’s map book, or a family’s lesson in tolerance through an alien cultural exchange student, Tan’s deft, sweet social satire brings us face-to-face with the humor and absurdity of modern life.