The Secret Life of a Tiger by Emilia Dziubak and Przemyslaw Wechterowicz

The Secret Life of a Tiger by Emilia Dziubak and Przemyslaw Wechterowicz
Buy The Secret Life of a Tiger by Emilia Dziubak and Przemyslaw Wechterowicz at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: For Sharing
Reviewer: Sam Tyler
Summary: What do you really know about Tigers? This wonderfully illustrated book may just surprise you by showing what they get up to when no one is looking.
Buy? Maybe	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 32	Date: August 2017
Publisher: Words & Pictures
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 9781910277249
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If David Attenborough has taught us anything is that a lot goes on in the natural world that we are unaware of. Animals will hunt in interesting ways, or find a mate using secret dances, but did you know that Tigers sometimes sneak up on apes and give them new haircuts? You will be amazed with the revelations found in Emilia Dziubak and Przemyslaw Wechterowicz's book, but I am not convinced that this kid's book is based on facts.

Tigers are misunderstood. They don't want all the jungle creatures to cower from them. On occasion they have been known to eat another living creature, but what about all the other things that they do in secret; the dancing, the art, the hairdressing. Is Tiger's plan to settle the minds of all his jungle pals so that they become friends with him, or is he just looking for an easy lunch?

The Secret Life of a Tiger is a spectacular book to look at, especially if you are lucky enough to obtain the large hardback version. Each double spread is full of luscious illustrations of a jungle landscape in which we find our tiger hero partaking of one of his secret pleasures. The fact that most of the book is green foliage is not an issue as Wechterowicz has used touches of colour that stand out. The jungle almost acts like a frame for tiger's antics and you can view each one as a great piece of art.

When you highlight the illustrations of a children's books first it is often because it is the best element of the book and that is certainly the case here. Whilst Wechterowicz's drawings are sublime, Dziubak's story is less so. The book's narrative acts more as a means of allowing the images to be made, rather than being something of themselves. They are a seemingly random selection of activities until the book ends. This is not a huge issue as children's books are often very simple to appeal to the audience, but there is also a strange ambiguity in this book; is Tiger good or bad? The book is written in a way that you cannot tell if Tiger is being sarcastic or not. This makes a huge difference as to how you see the character – secret fun lover, or manipulative carnivore? The individual reader can decide for themselves, but for a book aimed at 3-5 year olds, a clearer indication that he is nice would work better.

The story of Tiger is not great and the tone a little off, but the illustrations alone are enough to recommend the book. Adults will appreciate the amount of work that went into each page and the children will be able to find many new surprises each time they read the book. If you can get over the fact that Tiger many be a master manipulator, he does get up to some hilarious hijinks.

There are plenty of books that show that Tigers are not all a bad lot.

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You can read more book reviews or buy The Secret Life of a Tiger by Emilia Dziubak and Przemyslaw Wechterowicz at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy The Secret Life of a Tiger by Emilia Dziubak and Przemyslaw Wechterowicz at Amazon.com.

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