The Tiger Rising discussion

This book is all about a small boy named Rob Horton, who moved to Florida with his dad into a boring and depressing hotel. Right now Robs life was not on any sort of peak since his mother had just passed away and his father who was also devastated by the event told him never to speak of it. “There ain’t no point in crying,” his father had said afterward. “Crying ain’t going to bring her back.”(pg 3). Not only was it a hard time for him and his dad since the funeral, but school wasn’t too fun either. Norton and Billy Threemonger had taken special care in making sure Rob was the most miserable that he could be. One day not having any pleasure in wanting to go to school he fled into the foggy forest next to their hotel, The Kentucky Star. Running around he found a large cage in the middle of nowhere with a strange animal in it, a tiger! He was amazed by his discovery, whoever he decided to tell no one since no one would believe. A few days later when on the bus a girl with a pink lace dress with a funny, sassy sort of attitude came walking up the steps. Norton and Threemonger decided to make fun of her for her oddly well-dressed self. One thing was different though, she would talk back. These two after a while would decide to be somewhat friends in class but never talked much since the girl, whose name was Sistine, thought Rob was a little weird. When one of the girls threw something at Sistine, not knowingly Rob yelled, “Leave her alone!”(pg20). This caused a lot of attention but Sistine was thankful for what he did. Rob had a leg problem and it was quite gross to the other parents at the school. So Rob had to stay home for a couple weeks which was totally fine for him. Sistine insisted she would take his homework to The Kentucky Star for him. Soon these two would spend a lot of time together and would grow to be very close friends. Not only did they share with each other's family which Rob never talked about his mom, but the Tiger would be mentioned too. When seeing the Tiger Sistine did not stand in disbelief but would come up in ways to free the tiger. The next week fate would come into play when the owner of the tiger gave him a job feeding meat to him. Now with the keys, Sistine and Rob could plan for the escape.(SPOILERS->) Everyone who found out thought it was a bad idea but they still opened the cage and let it free. Hearing a gunshot they both ran back to The Kentucky Star hoping his dad did nothing. When it turns out that his dad does shoot the tiger Rob becomes furious punching his dad and finally opening up about his mom. Surprisingly the two decided to be calm and talk about Rob's mom and started a new. Soon Rob would feel happier than ever before and would live a whole new life with his dad and Sistine.
This book I found to be a little sad and I usually do not read that kind of books. It was a fun experience and the story I found to be very surprising. How everything connected together was great to read. Since it is not a very big book I recommend to someone who is just looking for a fun book with a great story to read. This book I believe can be of any age and no matter what type of genre you like I think anyone could like this book.