Tiger, Tiger

Rating:
Summary: Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee
Review: I think I can be forgiven for thinking, when first picking this picture book up that it was yet another "Little Black Sambo" reinterpretation. After all, the cover sports the image of a small boy walking proudly in the jungle as a pair of giant tiger's paws frame the image. As it happens, this book is NOT that kind of a story. Though it does contain the idea of a boy facing down a hungry tiger, this book is meant as a kind of answer to the old Blake poem "The Tiger". Where the poem asks, "Tiger! Tiger! burning bright/ In the forests of the night/ What immortal hand or eye/ Could frame thy fearful symmetry?" the book answers that the hand and eye belong to none other than a small boy.

Pocu lives in a small village in country that is never named. We'll say it's India. One day everyone in town is sleepy because it is such a hot day. Left on his own to wander the jungle, Pocu finds a beautiful feather. When he flicks it one way, the air grows cooler. When he flicks it another the flowers bloom and a large shadow appears. This shadow coaxes the boy to create more parts of it. It wants eyes to see with, paws to follow Pocu with, a body that can be stroked, a tail to stir the air, and finally gorgeous black stripes. It may be no surprise to the reader, but Pocu is a little shocked when he finds himself facing a fully-grown tiger. In his huge state the tiger demands to be taken back to Pocu's village, "in time for supper". At first Pocu leads him back, but with a swish of the feather, the tiger problem is taken care of a piece at a time. Pocu leaves the feather in the wood once more, returns to his family, "and he was just I time for supper".

Reading it now, I noticed that the last line of this picture book is not dissimilar to the last line in Maurice Sendak's, "Where the Wild Things Are". Still, this book is less about taming wild things than refusing to be tamed by them. As the book flap describes this tale it, "shows readers the power of imagination and the way in which it can take on a life of its own". Author Dee Lillegard is adept at writing a story in which the action slowly builds. As the tiger grows more and more impatient and hungry, the monkeys and parrots scream louder and louder. Accompanying the text are illustrations by the accomplished Susan Guevara. Better known, perhaps, for her eclectic and stunning Chato books (if you haven't read it, I demand you run out and purchase "Chato and the Party Animals", NOW!), Guevara has toned down her style for this particular book. Certainly she is just as enamored with color now as she has ever been. The magical feather that Pocu employs is like that of a peacock but riddled with additional yellows, oranges, pinks, greens, purples, reds, aquamarines, etc. It's one heckuva fancy feather. But as a result of this less than electric drawing technique, the book feels a little subdued. This is not on the level with her other work, but its still a lovely book.

There's much to enjoy about a story in which the main character is initially told to bug off at the beginning, has an adventure, and then comes home to a welcoming family. This is a comforting picture book, and a pretty one to look at as well. It may be difficult to write wholly new fables, but I think Lillegard and Guevara have admirably penned a great story. Though perhaps not the strongest of their works, it is still is a fun tale. Pick it up for a glance.