Mother to Tigers (Junior Library Guild Selection) [Hardcover]

George Ella Lyon (Author), Peter Catalanotto (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Junior Library Guild Selection

You are a Bengal tiger cub,

one of three -- Dacca, Rajpur, Raniganj -- abandoned by your mother.

You are so cold and thin that someone with kind hands puts you on a heating pad and sits by you for hours, moistening your mouth with milk.

When you give a weak cry and look up, there is a human face almost crying too.

Your new mother is Helen Delaney Martini, who has already raised a lion cub in her New York apartment. Tigers in the bathtub will be no problem for her and her husband, Fred.

This remarkable book -- strikingly striped as tigers are, sympathetically spoken as any child could wish -- tells the story of Helen Martini, founder of the Bronx Zoo's animal nursery in 1944 and its first woman zookeeper.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-3-Helen Martini cared for both lion and tiger cubs in her New York City apartment before building the Bronx Zoo's first nursery back in 1944. This simple account of how her husband and then Helen herself became animal keepers draws on Martini's long out-of-print adult book, My Zoo Family (Harper, 1955). Lyon places an introductory segment before the title page, inviting readers into the experience of the first lion cub Martini took in: "Suppose you were a lion cub-abandoned.- and a man came in the cage and lifted you into a case and put you in a car to go home with him." The story is then told in the third person to convey the early days of home animal care by the Martinis and the development of the nursery. The first golden cubs give way to a fine array of animals that have thrived in this much-needed facility. Catalanotto adds a bold graphic dimension to the story with torn-paper strips mounted as irregular picture panels on many pages. Charcoal sketches on brown paper are intermingled with full-color views. On a couple of pages, multiple images of Helen appear in a frame to emphasize the chaotic busyness of caring for energetic cubs and performing the many tasks of readying the nursery. A brief author's note adds a bit more information about the subject. This handsome and intriguing real-life story will be savored as independent and shared reading and useful as simple nonfiction for varied classroom purposes.
Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

K-Gr. 3. This picture-book biography recounts the remarkable story of Helen Delaney Martini, the founder of the Bronx Zoo's animal nursery. The childless Martini began taking care of baby tigers in her apartment, when her zookeeper husband brought the infants home. Later, she volunteered to set up a nursery. She eventually became the zoo's first woman zookeeper and successfully mothered 27 tigers, assorted primates, and other animals. Lyon's succinct, yet elegant, prose emphasizes Martini's dedication to the animals in her care, detailing how she and her husband often spent evenings at the zoo tending to the needy babies. Catalanotto's watercolor, charcoal, and torn-paper art is particularly effective here. Appropriate for a story set in the 1940s and 50s, his charcoal drawings suggest old newsreels. Vertically torn paper panels, which enable him to depict several different scenes in one spread, also add to the nostalgic aura. An author's note fills in some details of Martini's life and mentions her autobiography, My Zoo Family (1955). This will be popular with animal fans and classes studying zoos or careers. Kay Weisman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books; 1 edition (March 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 068984221X
• ISBN-13: 978-0689842214
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 11.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #215,559 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #90 in Books > Children's Books > Animals > Zoos

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Frostburg State Univ.'s Children's Literature Centre, November 13, 2002

By 

Bingman (Frostburg, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mother to Tigers (Junior Library Guild Selection) (Hardcover)

This remarkable book tells the story of Helen Martini, founder of the Bronx Zoo's animal nursery in 1944 and its first woman zookeeper. Helen and her husband, Fred really wanted children. They lost their first child and Helen couldn't have any more. They began to fill their lives with pets. Fred found a job in the Bronx Zoo. He often took home some baby tigers and Helen cared for them just like she would care for a human baby. This lead to her setting up a nursery at the zoo to care for lots of baby animals. This story will be adored by both children and adults.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartwarming and inspiring, April 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Mother to Tigers (Junior Library Guild Selection) (Hardcover)

Warmly written, based on fact, beautiful art, great for girls

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mother to Tigers - George Ella Lyon, February 9, 2005

By 

Melissa and Erin (CCSU - CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mother to Tigers (Junior Library Guild Selection) (Hardcover)

This is the story of Helen Martini, the first woman zookeeper. Helen and her husband (an employee of the Bronx Zoo), took in tiger cubs to care for them. This led to Helen opening the first animal nursery in a zoo. She is credited with raising 27 cubs, when no cubs had successfully been raised in a zoo before. This book is easy for students to connect with, because children of all ages have prior knowledge with animals and zoos. The author's illustrations depict animals bringing joy and color to the character's lives to fill the void of their not being able to have children. This book would be a great addition to a theme unit on women's history.