Tiger in My Soup

The lady or the tiger? Try the older sister or the tiger—the stakes are nearly as high. Sheth (Monsoon Afternoon) introduces a familiar pair of siblings: the demanding younger brother and “over it” older sister/babysitter. The kids are left home alone for the day—and what a home! Ebbeler (Snow Day for Mouse) pictures it as a modern structure, all angles and windows, perched on a rocky seaside outcropping, as their parents’ AMC Pacer swerves off into the distance. The boy is eager to have his sister read his tiger-themed book to him, but she (earbuds in, with reading material of her own) tosses a bowl of alphabet soup his way to get him off her back. Trouble is, a tiger emerges from the soup (“R-O-A-R” read the noodle letters in the boy’s bowl), and the battle is on, imagined though it may be. Ebbeler truly knocks it out of the park, gleefully building on Sheth’s prose with dynamic perspectives, a realistically detailed (and menacing) tiger, abundant visual hyperbole, and unexpected delights on nearly every page. Ages 4–8. Illustrator’s agent: Mela Bolinao, MB Artists. (Apr.)