School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2--The German duo behind Elephantastic pair up again to bring a day in the life of a tiger, or at least a young child's day pretending to be one. Through text that reads like a voice-over of a nature show, readers enter the child's first-person narration. Waking in his tiger suit with a "woar, woar, woar," the tiger escapes the harrowing morning bathroom routine, because tigers don't like soap or brushes hitting their beautiful fur, before their breakfast of tiger flakes and blood (orange juice). Tigers like to hide, play in the snow, and cause mischief--but ultimately, at the end of the day, they like making crafts with their tiger families, and cuddling up to go to sleep. Watkinson's translation captures the rhythmic and energetic language, making this a ferociously fun read-aloud full of alliteration and assonance. Tourlonias's digitally rendered illustrations add layers while always putting the young child in the forefront. Her blurred lines and paint splotches add energy and transitions between the human world and the child's imagination, while showing the child's home as the world and ecosystem in which this particular tiger thrives. Readers will delight in finding the hidden stuffed animals that move from scene to scene on every spread. VERDICT Sure to please tigers of all ages, this serves as a great addition to early literacy collections showing the emotional learning that comes through play, imagination, and pretending.--Danielle Jones, Multnomah County Library, OR
Kirkus Review
This playful poem of a picture book captures a child's wildness and warmth as he pretends to be a tiger.From the moment he wakes up and roars for his breakfast, his tiger alter ego gives him permission to safely test the boundaries of family life. Whether growling for food, upsetting his father's coffee cup, or cuddling with his parents, the tiger-child dances in hairy spatters across the page. The book's dynamic, often busy illustrations and shadowy, hinted-at junglescapes communicate myriad rapidly changing childhood feelings and identities. While preschoolers will appreciate the wily tiger-child protagonist, the story's poetic text might be a challenge for the younger range of the audience, as the unusual word choices, punctuation, and sentence structure in this translation from German are more sophisticated than typical American texts for this age group. However, child readers (and certainly adult caregivers) will identify with the book's central messages: Children can experience a wide swath of feelings, everyone makes mistakes, and everyone has complicated ways of interacting with the world. This little tiger is by turns loud, fast, greedy, clumsy, wild, wary, clever, creative, grumpy, quiet, and loving. The final quiet pages offer a peaceful conclusion to the wild narrative ride, creating a soothing finish for younger children who might be both thrilled and perhaps alarmed at the antics and naughtiness of the tiger-boy. Wildness is part and parcel of everyday childhood, embraced here with a roar. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
A young boy with a wild imagination and a love of tigers has an adventurous day. From sunup to sundown, the child, wearing a tiger costume, thinks and acts like his favorite animal. His parents indulge him in his fantasies, feeding him Tiger Crunch cereal, dressing him in his tiger coat and hat to play in the snow, and creating tiger crafts as a family. Using double-worded adjectives, Engler describes the boy's actions ( wide-awake, wild and wary, clever, cunning ). Pouncing, lurking, and prowling fill this cub's day, but even this tiger gets a time-out when he disrupts his father's coffee-and-newspaper time. Retreating to his room is no punishment for this youngster as he uses blankets and chairs to create a snug den for himself. The child's imagination creates a setting in which the flora and fauna of a tiger's habitat appear subtly throughout the story. Digital illustrations show a cozy home with framed pictures of tigers on the walls while revealing the nonstop activities of a preschooler living his dream.--Maryann Owen Copyright 2019 Booklist
