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October 23, 2016

STRIPES THE TIGER

Stripes is a tiger. NOT a cat. So stop trying to get him to purr and chase mice. Tigers don't do that kind of thing. Tigers roar and hunt large prey like dogs. And then one day Stripes comes up with a brilliant idea to switch places with an actual tiger...


Stripes the Tiger, written by Jean Leory and illustrated by Bérengère Delaporte, made me giggle from endpaper to endpaper. Even the physical book itself is kind of funny: it's so small and yet it contains such a large personality. Poor Stripes does everything he can to remind the people and animals around him that he's the fiercest hunter in the jungle, and this gives Delaporte a lot of room to get creative with the text. he "jungle" that Stripes so enthusiastically explores is merely the garden in his owner's backyard, and the "large prey" that he attempts to chase is a dog significantly larger than he is.


We also get a fun window into the relationship between Stripes and his owner. Although the text tells us Stripes is somewhat taxing on his owner, Delaporte adds new layers of hilarity into the illustrations as Stripes knocks over his owner's dishes and they exchange nasty looks, or the owner comes walking around the corner and is startled to see Stripes' enlarged shadow against the wall.


The illustrations are colored pencil and ink, and remain bright and full of detail throughout. The end is a fantastic surprise, and it will definitely have you coming back to read again and again!

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