This beautiful hardback is designed for younger readers and will be a hit with socially conscious parents. It tells of the perils associated with poaching and gives a message of hope in the form of a young monk who makes a difference. The colours and illustrations are sumptuous-evocative of rich tapestries-and the story is clearly told through the illustrations (meaning that younger not-quite-readers can pore over the book and pick up the storyline without necessarily having it read to them.) Set in Thailand, the story tells of a group of monks who set up a sanctuary for hunted tigers. At the end of the book Stanley gives a one-page account of her experiences with the real monastery that inspired her story. Some parents and teachers may flinch at the idea of youngsters having to deal with concepts like poaching and the extinction of wildlife, but most will embrace the fact that this book looks at how individuals can change things for the better. Tyger! Tyger! is a gentle and ultimately positive introduction to one of the big issues that affects us all.

Katherine Lyall-Watson has been a bookseller, children’s storyteller and editor

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker

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