Customer Reviews

The Tyger Voyage

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I received this book over 25 years ago from my uncle/godfather before I could even read. I remember being so mesmerized by the beautiful illustrations, I would make someone read it to me every night just so I could look at the pictures! It's definitely worth an out-of-print search! I got hold of another copy a few years ago which I intend to pass on to my recently-born niece!

I have a copy of this book from years ago when I was a child. I was sad to see that it is out of print, and feel sorry for the children who won't have the opportunity to experience it. I remember many a day of reading and rereading this wonderful book.

I had this book as a child and was always captivated by the illustrations. I loved the story of the tygers and their adventure to lands unkown. I am not sure where my copy is (at my mother's house I'm sure) - but at about 24 years old I felt compelled to seek this book out and have a copy for myself. Now I have a toddler of my own and he loves animals. I hope that he will grow to love this book as much as I have.

When I was just a few years old, an overgrown toddler really, Mrs. Lila Heston, mother of the late-great Charleton Heston, gave my mom a copy of THE TYGER VOYAGE for me. The formiddable Mrs. Heston was for some reason fond of me, an over-active kid prone to climbing into her gardens in the belief that elephants lived there; hence the book.
My first act was to deface the copy by writing an approximation of my name (with a backwards "S" and a huge ball over the "i") on the glossy orange paper of the inside cover. After thirty-plus years, this is the sole sign of wear that remains on this magnificent work of children's fiction, a book which is stupidly out of print and even more stupidly forgotten, but which holds a special place in the hearts of any who have been lucky enough to read it.

THE TYGER VOYAGE is quite simply the best kids' book ever written, hands down. The story, by Richard Adams, is about a family of tigers (called, appropriately enough, the Tygers), consisting of a momma, a papa and a cub. One day papa Tyger takes his son on a sea voyage, but a sudden storm shipwrecks them on a faraway shore, and the rest of the story entails their long journey to get home. That is really it, and I suppose it doesn't sound like much, but Adams' clever, enjoyable, and touching storytelling aside, the scene-stealer here is the ravishing artwork, rendered by the equally ravishing (her picture is on the flyleaf) Nicola Bailey.

Bailey's illustrations, which go hand-in-hand with the narration, are so lavish, and so brilliant in their use of color, that they had the same effect on my young brain as a candle has on a darkened room, or a string of brightly-lit Christmas-tree lights has on a boring old pine. Every single brushstroke seems to be calculated to engage ever single rod and cone in your retina, from the orange-and-black patterns in the Tyger's fur to the lush, gold-struck indigos of the night sky above the storm-tossed boat; from the bright colors of the gypsies' neckerchiefs to the brilliant green of the jungle snake's back. These mini-paintings were as far from the boring pastels and primaries of my other books as a painting by Duccio or Renior is from a dentist's-office watercolor.This sort of art is evocative. Those lavish royal purples and Sherwood greens, the starry golds and indefinable shades of dusty pink and lemon yellow - all of them conspired to set fire to my imagination rather than limit it. And the detail work! Every panel was and is a shadow-box full of visual treasure, with (if I may mix my metaphors) each individual coin setting the mind on a different but equally wonderful path. Years later, when I would sneak this book out and read through it again, I was struck over and over by the tiny details which I'd hitherto missed. Ms. Bailey had (has?) a remarkable gift for illustrating densely without making the picture seemed cramped or busy. The sense of atmosphere created by these panels is nothing less than remarkable, and they as beautiful to the adult eye as the young one.

My sole advice to anyone reading this, especially if you have kids of a storytelling age, is to get a copy by any means necessary; whatever you overpay now in money you will be more than repaid in terms of visual pleasure and the gratitude of your children. I may seem breathless with admiration (or nostalgia), but I am merely stating the plain facts when I say art like this, to paraphrase Ben Franklin, "is proof that there is a God and that He loves us."

Adventure, Poetry, Fantastically Colorful and Detailed Artwork combine in this short classic of children's literature.

It's worth an out of print search.

Alec

This is a charming and imaginative tale, with the most gorgeous and detailed illustrations. Even more unique, it is written in verse - it's just beautiful all around. The story captivated my almost-4 yr old and also provided many opportunities to teach him new vocabulary.