Tiger's Story

With workmanlike prose, Blackford takes readers to India and introduces them to Tiger, ""a small, strong, stripy cub who walks quietly on his big soft paws and twitches his long stripy tail."" Tiger matures, leaves his mother and sister (""he needs his own space to hunt""), encounters some mild peril (he unwittingly encroaches on another tiger's territory and wisely ""runs and runs and runs!""), then settles into a nice new home of his own. The text comes across as earnest and discreet (""Tiger can see deer way ahead in the tall grass,"" is as close as it gets to describing the circle of life), but the story's modest narrative arc is overshadowed early on by Stojic's large-scale paintings. Although the illustrator mostly eschews the impressionistic lyricism that made her Rain so memorable, her talent for wielding vibrant color becomes fully apparent as she plays up the contrast between the tiger's bright orange coat and his emerald-green stomping grounds. The artist skillfully conveys the tiger's stealth and strength, while giving his face a pussycat approachability. Unfortunately, the overall effect comes across as more of a picture album than genuine storybook. Ages 3-6.