By Tae Keller
4Rbooks: 4/6, grades 6-8
Amazon rating: 4.7/5, grades 3-7
Good Reads: 4.16/5
Common Sense Media: 4.5/5, ages 10+
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Synopsis:
Lily, Sam (her older sister), and their mother have moved back to Sunbeam, Washington to be with their Halmoni (Korean word for grandmother). The girls soon learn that Halmoni is sick. Lily has always been fascinated by Halmoni stories, especially the one about the two sisters and the tigers. Those stories become all too real when she starts seeing a mystical tiger; first in the street and then in their home.
With the help of her new friend Ricky, she sets up a trap in the basement to catch the tiger. One night, she finds the tiger waiting for her and he proposes a bargain for her. She collects and gives him the stories that her Halmoni stole from the tigers years ago, and she would help her Halmoni.
Lily knows she shouldn’t trust a tiger, but she is desperate to help her Halmoni. Can she stop being the QAC (quiet Asian girl, a nickname her sister uses to describe Lily) and find her voice amidst all of the changes and challenges life is bringing.
Parental Guidance: medium
Lily’s Halmoni (grandmother) has a brain tumor and is dying.
Halmoni suffers Alzheimer like symptoms.
Sam sneaks out at night, climbing out an upstairs window.
In the final chapter it is insinuated that Sam and Jensen, the girl from the
library, are in a relationship that’s more than just friends.
Recommendation:
This won the Newberry Medal Award as the best book for children, 2021. One of the complaints about Newberry Award selections is that too often the books chosen are more popular with adults than they are with children. This book would fall into that category. It is definitely more of a middle grades book and not an elementary book because of the mature themes and emotional impact. A child who has lost a parent and/or grand parent would understand what the girls have been going through, but the final scene in the hospital, though beautifully written, might be difficult to get through.
I’m not sure if boy readers will connect with this story. Girls will understand the family dynamics and struggles that the four women in this home try to navigate. The story of the girls and the sister/tiger stories are both interesting, but it can be confusing at times, trying to make sense of the two together.
One of the major complaints from readers on other sites is the introduction of the girls (Sam and Jensen) relationship in the last chapter. While I agree that it seems thrown in without a lot of development, I will give Tae Keller credit that it is written in a subtle and inferential way. There can be disagreements as to whether it is appropriate for a children’s book, but it was written appropriately for a children’s book.
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