Catch this tiger tale at storytime.
What makes a tiger a tiger?
The nameless young narrator has a pet tiger named Imran. Imran can speak, and he does have stripes on his pure-white fur, but they’re hard to see. This seeming omission makes the protagonist and other children question whether Imran is actually a tiger at all—though the big cat insists that he is. Throughout, Imran repeats the phrase, “You can’t tame a tiger,” rejecting the narrator’s repeated efforts to make him conform to preconceived notions of tigerhood. Chung relies on a limited palette, using orange as a highlight against blue-gray backgrounds, with painterly black brush strokes and flourishes of green and yellow. Painting black stripes on Imran’s fur makes him look like a zebra; festooning him with polka dots just makes people think he’s a cheetah. The youngster tries painting Imran orange, but he jumps into a pool of water and washes away the paint, all the while insisting on his true tiger nature. Clearly, the children cannot make this pure-white tiger change his (figurative) stripes. Ultimately, a loud “ROAR!” convinces the narrator and the other children of Imran’s true tiger nature, white fur and all. Readers may find deeper meaning in this story about self-definition and accepting others for who they say they are, though these messages are subtly conveyed; the true lures are the bantering dialogue between the child and Imran and Chung’s energetic artwork. Human characters have skin the color of the page; hairstyles imply diversity.
Catch this tiger tale at storytime. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781771475464
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Owlkids Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Sadly, the storytelling runs aground.
A little red sleigh has big Christmas dreams.
Although the detailed, full-color art doesn’t anthropomorphize the protagonist (which readers will likely identify as a sled and not a sleigh), a close third-person text affords the object thoughts and feelings while assigning feminine pronouns. “She longed to become Santa’s big red sleigh,” reads an early line establishing the sleigh’s motivation to leave her Christmas-shop home for the North Pole. Other toys discourage her, but she perseveres despite creeping self-doubt. A train and truck help the sleigh along, and when she wishes she were big, fast, and powerful like them, they offer encouragement and counsel patience. When a storm descends after the sleigh strikes out on her own, an unnamed girl playing in the snow brings her to a group of children who all take turns riding the sleigh down a hill. When the girl brings her home, the sleigh is crestfallen she didn’t reach the North Pole. A convoluted happily-ever-after ending shows a note from Santa that thanks the sleigh for giving children joy and invites her to the North Pole next year. “At last she understood what she was meant to do. She would build her life up spreading joy, one child at a time.” Will she leave the girl’s house to be gifted to other children? Will she stay and somehow also reach ever more children? Readers will be left wondering. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 31.8% of actual size.)
Sadly, the storytelling runs aground. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-72822-355-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
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