Tiger, Tiger

by Dee Lillegard, Susan Guevara (Illustrator)

In his boredom, Pocu uses his magic to create a companion out of the shadows, but when the companion grows stronger and starts running the show, Pocu must come up with a way to control his dangerous creation.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, Fantasy

32 pages, Hardcover

First published October 14, 2002

Reviews

[Lady Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

I absolutely loved the pictures in this book. They're bright, vibrant and really compell the story forward. The plot was cute, but could've been developed more.
Pocu has no one to play with, so he heads out into the jungle and finds a gorgeous feather. He swishes it around and suddenly flowers start blooming. He hears a voice demanding that he creat different things. By the end Pocu has created a tiger. The tiger is very hungry and demands to be taken to Pocu's village for dinner. Pocu agrees and doesn't realize how dangerous his creation is until it gets tired of waiting and tries to eat Pocu for dinner. Pocu then lulls it to sleep and uses his feather to erase the tiger.
Very cute, but could have gone a lot further with the story.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another stunning children's book whose strengths are its simplicity and how it brings to life the inner workings of the mind of a child.

In a village in an undisclosed location (jungles of South America?) young Pocu is making too much noise for the napping community, so he wanders into the jungle where he finds a feather. According to my daughter, this feather is "magic"; although the story leaves it to interpretation as far as what exactly is going on. In any case, the story is indeed magical, creative, and quite a bit frightful. My daughter was relieved at the end and wanted me to read it again, so not too traumatic for the average four-year-old.

The text was vary poetic, almost sing-song in parts, and matched the art perfectly. It made me look for more books by these authors.

[Sarah Balmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Modern Fantasy
Grades: P-2
Tiger, Tiger was an odd book. As I read through this book, I was unsure weather I was supposed to be scared of letting my imagination go crazy or weather I was supposed to learn how to play with others better, so being an introvert wouldn't destroy me. Overall this book was weird, and I also was unsure about why a feather was the magical tool that brought the tiger to life. Was there supposed to be a reason it was a feather? The book was interesting and definitely had me hooked, but I again, wasn't sure what I was supposed to take away from it. This would be a cool book to maybe act out in a classroom, but I had a hard time connecting with it in general.

[Sabrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author and illustrator:
I love the illustrations in this book, and they are really eye catching pictures in this book. The author Dee Lillegard uses beautiful written text to show us how powerful imagination could be.
Personal Response:
I enjoy to book this book so much not only the story in this book but also the beautiful illustrations in this book. I would love to introduce this book to my class and let them to draw a picture based on their imaginations.

[Spencer Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book because it has very beautiful illustrations and a catchy rhythm to it. I wish I would have been a little longer or had more to it but it was still good. I think students could relate to this book because in the story the boy is annoying the other people in the village and goes off by himself and uses his imagination. This book is low fantasy and is in the 1st to 3rd grade range

[Roberta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strange little book about a boy and his imagination. The ending was not so bad...but I thought my four year old might be scared from this story at first. He wants to re-read it, so I know he enjoyed it.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

A boy imagines his own adventure when all of the adults in his village are busy working. Beautiful illustrations.

[Shannon K]

The bright vibrant colors are what attracted me to this book. The media that the artist used to create the images was gouache with chalk pastel on mixed media paper. There are no black outlines around the objects in the images, this makes the images look soft, subtle, and fluid. There is a black outline around all the pages and on certain pages there is an additional black line that cuts down the middle of one of the side pages breaking it in half but not disrupting the image. I’m not quite sure why the artist did that on some pages but not others, but it does add an interesting visual effect, I think. If you open the book up and look at the front and the back of the book it is actually one large image with the tiger’s front on the cover and the tigers back half on the back, I found that fascinating when I discovered that.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

A boy, Pocu, goes for a walk in the jungle. He finds a feather on the ground and *swish* piece-by-piece creates a beautiful tiger in the jungle. The tiger wants to follow Pocu home for supper and Pocu must use his feather to trick the tiger before they make it back.

Excellent key book for storytime. After telling this story I had the children help me build our own tiger (in sequence) on the whiteboard. Other supporting books talked about other animals in the jungle. Played an imagination game where children closed their eyes and imagined what animals they would make with their magic feathrs. Craft involved tongue depressors painted up like a tiger EXCEPT they were stripe-less; children had to colour on their tigers' stripes.

[Lakeside Branch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps my all time favorite for reading to ages 4 - 8. Beautifully written and illustrated, this book keeps them spellbound, especially if you encourage kids to swish an imaginary feather along with you. There is also a subtle message about the anger and violence that we all feel within us, and a reminder that it is under our control. Take a close look at the last picture, in which Poku looks at his reflection and sees a tiger. Ask the kids to explain what they think is happening. This always leads to an interesting conversation, especially because the book doesn't tell us - it is up to each of us to decide what the picture means.
-jg

[MH · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my all-time favorite books to read to the K-1 set. The story grabs their imagination (and mine) until you believe in magic and the tiger. The tension of the story and then the slow release of fear instilled by the child's imagination along with soft dreamy pictures make this an amazing read.

[Vanessa Wilder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lonely Pocu is a character in this book that no one wants to play with. He creates a dangerous shadow that he thought would be a playmate, but he has to determine how to handle his creation. This is a wonderful book about the power of imagination.

Activity: Think of something that you would add to the imagination of Pocu and why?

[Madelyn Page]

I liked the fact that the book taught consequences in a non blunt way. The boy finds the feather, swishes it around, and then it creates a tiger. He has to figure out how to save his village from the tiger he "created".

[Virginia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations and highly imaginative. My children love the "Swish" of the feather and the vibrant illustrations. The actual story is a little bit scary, but all in all, a good book for kids. It is currently always chosen for bedtime.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marisa picked this book for Move and I absolutely love it. I'm so stealing it for Tales. There are gorgeous illustrations and a lovely story.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A vividly illustrated story about the power of imagination.

[Abby · Rating 2 out of 5]

The illustrations were full of color and movement, but they seemed sloppy. The story was OK. I think it held itself in higher esteem than I held it.

[Brandielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful and imaginative.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bored young boy uses a magic feather to form a tiger, and then must use the feather to save his village when the tiger gets hungry.

[Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is a suspense and slight rhythm to this book that is fun, but otherwise it was hard to hold the interest of my child with this.

[Cordellya Smith]

The artwork in this book is beautiful. If you like stories from other cultures, you will enjoy Dee Lillegard's "Tiger, Tiger."

[Janette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good read aloud.