Image: Penguin Random House
Happy Monday! I enjoyed the wintery sunshine this weekend and took lots of walks with Boo! I hope your weekend was fantastic.
Middle Grade Monday features When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller. Lily's widowed mother has decided to move the family of three from California to Sunbeam, Washington to care for Lily's grandmother, whose health is declining. Lily loves Halmoni, especially her stories, but she wants to stay in California for seventh grade, not start all over in Washington. Lily has a superpower though. She can become invisible - the QAG - quiet Asian girl. She's so unlike Sam, who is outgoing and can make friends anywhere.
When Lily sees a tiger at the side of the road near Halmoni's house and the tiger seems to be watching Lily, she knows Halmoni will understand the meaning. Instead, Halmoni tells Lily that the tiger is after her because she stole something from her long ago and now the tiger is back to reclaim what was stolen. Lily and her new friend, Ricky set out to trap a tiger.
Fans of magical realism will adore this exquisitely written story-within-a-story. If you loved Where the Mountain Meets the Moon or The Girl Who Swallowed the Moon, you will love When You Trap a Tiger. Warning: I was a weeping mess near the end, so make sure there are tissues handy. There has been a bit of Newbery buzz around this one and deservedly so.
When Lily sees a tiger at the side of the road near Halmoni's house and the tiger seems to be watching Lily, she knows Halmoni will understand the meaning. Instead, Halmoni tells Lily that the tiger is after her because she stole something from her long ago and now the tiger is back to reclaim what was stolen. Lily and her new friend, Ricky set out to trap a tiger.
Fans of magical realism will adore this exquisitely written story-within-a-story. If you loved Where the Mountain Meets the Moon or The Girl Who Swallowed the Moon, you will love When You Trap a Tiger. Warning: I was a weeping mess near the end, so make sure there are tissues handy. There has been a bit of Newbery buzz around this one and deservedly so.
The narrator's performance was well-paced and she had distinct voices for the different characters as well as for the tiger folk tale that interspersed the narrative. My only question has to do with her pronunciation of Halmoni. It sounded like Harmony and when I looked up the pronunciation online, each source pronounced it the l.
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