Title: The Tiger Rising
Author: Kate DiCamillo
Age Range: 9-12
Genre: Realistic Fiction
One of the reasons I love this book is the restraint that Kate DicCamillo uses in the telling of it. Rather than flooding the reader with tons of words, she chooses to use as few words as possible. She exercises restraint and as a result, it is just as much what is unsaid that makes the language powerful. The main character in the book, Rob Horton, is bullied at school, has no friends, and truly no hope for his life, following the death of his mother. The book shows his transformation from that person to one at the end who is different and changed from how he has begun. The book is beautifully written, with wonderful language and engaging characters such as Sistine, the girl who will become his friend, and Willie May, a wise woman with whom Rob discusses the more tricky points of his life.
There are many deep issues that are touched upon in the book. One is the death of a parent, and how to recover from it. Secondly is the issue of bullying and how to survive and possibly even avoid it. Rob is bullied mercilessly and the taunts that he has to deal with are not easy ones. The book touches on loneliness, finding friends, being an outcast and the search for hope. There theme of people and animals in cages, an idea that many students may not fully understand, but an important point of discussion nonetheless. It is a book for your more mature reader, not because of the language, but because of some of the content.
