James Rumford,
Tiger and Turtle
Roaring Brook Press, 2010.
Ages 4+
Tiger and Turtle live in the same forest and stay out of each other’s way. They may not always agree, but they have learned there is no use arguing or fighting. After all, “a tiger’s claws could not harm a turtle’s shell any more than a turtle’s feet could outrun a tiger’s.” Then one day, the tiniest of flowers drifts down from the sky and changes their relationship forever.
Turtle wants to eat the flower, but Tiger has other ideas, and, while they may not be able to hurt each other (at least not very easily) they can sure fight over a flower! For instance, Tiger can swipe at the flower and send it soaring out of Turtle’s reach. And Turtle, once she is angry enough, learns that biting Tiger’s leg is actually pretty effective. The two go back and forth escalating their efforts to control each other and gain the flower. It seems as though disaster will surely befall them both, but at the last minute, we learn there was never anything to fight about as Tiger and Turtle narrowly escape a gruesome fate—together! It is no surprise at all that after this, Tiger and Turtle move beyond mere tolerance to become the best of friends.
This gorgeous book, with a strong message about resolving conflict and the futility of fighting is, perhaps fittingly, dedicated to the author’s brother. It is likely that the sibling relationship is the first place many children learn such lessons, and they will doubtless relate to the silliness and extremes Tiger and Turtle go to, to get their own way. The art, inspired by Indian and Pakistan designs for shawls, rugs, and jali windows and rendered on handmade Chinese paper, is simply beautiful. Indeed, gazing at Rumford’s warm colors, transcendent designs and the boldly drawn yet slightly dreamy Tiger and Turtle is likely to make anyone feel peaceful and at ease. A book that can bring children to laugh, dream, calm down and think about important lessons is certainly a treasure. Parents and children, perhaps for different reasons, will both want to reread Tiger and Turtle many times.
Abigail Sawyer
November 2011
PaperTigers is pleased to announce that A Child’s Garden: A Story of Hope is one of the three books included in the 2011 Spirit of PaperTigers book set.
Michael Foreman,
A Child’s Garden: A Story of Hope
Walker Books / Candlewick Press, 2009.
Ages 5-11
A Child’s Garden: A Story of Hope is a timeless fable with particular relevance for today’s young readers. Michael Foreman, one of the UK’s foremost illustrators and storytellers, has created a masterpiece that combines uncluttered but meaningful prose with beautiful watercolors in contrasting monochrome and joyous, unstoppable color.
A boy finds a “speck of green” among the rubble that is the bleak, monochrome landscape of his home, and nurtures it with almost desperate care. His world is separated from the outside by a tall, barbed wire fence: but as the plant grows, it covers the fence, bringing welcome shade, and birds and butterflies. Other children come there to play and help care for the sturdy vine. Then the unthinkable happens. Soldiers from the other side of the wire rip the vine away, leaving it to die in a ditch. Color has once again gone out of the world. The boy’s heartbreak is palpable.
Life continues through a joyless, cold winter but spring brings with it new growth – on the other side of the fence. A girl appears and nurtures the plants in her turn, under the disinterested eyes of the soldiers. Soon there are shoots on the boy’s side too. Tendrils meet and entwine across the fence, and children on both sides come together to play and tend the vine. The boy realises that it will grow despite the soldiers’ efforts to destroy it – and in the same way, the fence itself will one day disappear. The seeds for that have been sown.
Perfectly honed for young children, A Child’s Garden also has much to offer older readers. At first glance, Foreman’s use of monochrome versus the color of the vine and the life it attracts seems very clear cut. However, a deeper reading, picking out details in the illustrations especially, provides provoking food for thought, reinforcing the tenacity of the seeds of hope not only sown in the boy’s heart but spreading and growing elsewhere. Foreman’s virtuoso illustrations draw out the story’s multilayered complexity and provide wordless stimuli for readers to put out their own tendrils of hope for the future.
A Child’s Garden is a moving, empowering read that, like all good fables, will leave a lasting, deep-rooted impression on its readers.
Marjorie Coughlan
September 2011
In the build-up to the launch of her new book, Peacebuilders: Daisaku Ikeda & Josei Toda, Buddhist Leaders, a Biography, author M. LaVora Perry has launched an essay competition for kids right through from K-12 – that’s 5-18 year olds. Divided into three age-groups, there’s a choice of essay titles about building peace. Deadline for entries is 11:59 P.M. US Ohio time on the book launch date, Tuesday, March 16, 2010.
Older Brother and Little Brother have just watched the trailers (both the long and short version) and are resolved to read the book – we’ll be reviewing it soon on PaperTigers. And I also want to find out a bit more about Daisaku Ikeda’s children’s books…
