Dear readers of the blog,

I recently finished reading the book The tiger rising by kate diCamillo. This is a 116 page fiction book about a 12-year-old boy named Rob Horton. Kate DiCamillo was born in Philadelphia and spent her childhood in Florida.  She spent a lot of time reading as a kid because she had chronic pneumonia.  Her first novel, Because of Winn-Dixie, won her  a Newbery honor.  I chose this book because my favorite ILA teacher suggested I read it. He knew I liked Because of Winn-Dixie, and The Tiger Rising is by the same author.

The story is about a boy who finds a tiger in a cage in the middle of the woods near his home. Rob went to visit the tiger and fed him every day.  He was upset that the tiger was in such a small cage.  Rob meets a girl named Sistine Bailey.  Rob and Sistine were both lonely.  SIstine was new to the town so she didn’t really know too many people.  Rob was bullied by kids in school,  especially the Threemonger brothers.  The tiger brought the two kids together because they talked about it a lot. This helped him forget about his mother who had recently died, the bullies, and the blisters on his legs.

“He imagined himself as a suitcase that was too full…..He made all his feelings go inside the suitcase;he stuffed them in tight and then sat on the suitcase and locked it shut…. Sometimes it was hard to keep the suitcase shut (page 3).” I noticed how the author used the metaphor, suitcase, to describe how the character Rob kept his feelings inside. I liked that style of writing because it makes it easier for me to connect with whats going on in the story. This book reminded me of The Lion King  because Rob cared about sistine just like Simba cared about his father.   

I would rate this book a 6/10 because it is sad and a little boring. I would recommend this book for anyone who is going through a difficult time because the tiger helped the boy get in touch with his feelings.

Sincerely,

JJ