From Publishers Weekly
Bunting's provocative allegory uses a tiger to personify the powerful allure of the gang. When the tiger calls Danny by name and invites him for a ride through their tough city neighborhood, the boy accepts, but soon learns that he has made a dangerous mistake. The tiger talks about respect, but wins it through taunts and intimidation. When Danny tries to get off the tiger's back, the tiger threatens him. "But maybe I don't want you to get off," the tiger says. "Maybe I want to get to know you better." Only when the tiger traumatizes a homeless man can the boy conquer his own fear to aid the tiger's victim. Bunting's 1997 picture book, Your Move, highlighted the same dilemma; in it, the boy's loving family and supportive neighbors are set against the menace of the gang. Here the story recedes in importance as the author trumpets the moral dilemma ("Do you want what I want?" asks the tiger, "Because anyone who isn't for us is against us"). Danny's family and friends never appear onstage, and the conflict is played out entirely in Danny's mind. Frampton's stark, stylized woodcuts, medieval in their conception and intensity, heighten the story's morality-play atmosphere. Like Your Move, the book will be most useful as a discussion-starter. Ages 6-9.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Gr 2-4-Ten-year-old Danny is new in town, so when an imposing tiger offers him a ride, he's flattered and intrigued. However, as they swagger together through the city, Danny notices that the beast is eliciting fear-not respect-from shopkeepers, school kids, and neighbors. When a young man invites him to join a basketball game and Danny vacillates, the tiger turns threatening and seems to grow larger. Finally, it terrifies a homeless man into injuring himself, and Danny must decide whether to surrender his powerful perch and help, or remain on the now-frightening beast. His courageous and painful fall to the pavement and ultimate concern for the stranger break the tiger's hold. Danny denies his association with the big cat and it disappears. The woodcut illustrations and dark palette capture the grittiness of the setting; the angular and fierce animal is drawn with thick strong lines while people, with curving profiles and trusting eyes, project hope as well as fear. Bunting's thinly veiled allegory will be obvious to most school-aged readers and especially pertinent to those struggling with gang membership. The first-person telling allows for doubt and introspection; Danny is exhilarated by his alliance with the beast, then struggles with doubt and self-deprecation when its ruthlessness is revealed. The powerful imagery ("He smelled of something dark and exciting") contrasts with an occasional dated expression ("The concrete hit me like a pile driver") but pacing is as relentless as a stalking cat and the message is as purposeful. A provocative look at a timely topic.-Carol Ann Wilson, Westfield Memorial Library, NJ
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
