Published: 1st June 2018
Publisher: Scholastic Australia
Illustrator: Anna Pignataro
Pages: 24
Format: Hardcover Picture Book
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars
I wish I had a tiger, a tiger from the zoo.
A tiger of my own to love-a tiger just like you.
A funny rhyming story about a little girl and a troublesome (but lovable) tiger.
Once more I have picked up a picture book because the front cover was too cute to ignore. I wasn’t disappointed either because this is a fun story told through rhyme, coupled with creative illustrations. Pignataro’s illustrations are a mixture of drawn and painted, and vary from full page detail to simple images on white.
I loved the poetic verse the story is written in. It flows wonderfully if you read it as a whole, and nothing is lost if the story is read at a slower pace either, each stanza matches the picture which is spread across a double page. Pignataro’s rhymes are clever and make sense in context, nothing too fanciful happens to make a rhyme work which makes the reading flow naturally and seamlessly. The formatting of the words also play into how you read the story and it helps with tone and pacing, especially when reading it aloud.
It’s one of those wonderfully absurd books that never explain why the young girl has the tiger, just that loving a tiger is hard because of all the mischief they get up to. I loved how the girl treats the tiger. Her complaints start just because he growls when you put a ribbon in his hair, and he takes up all the room on the bed. But then it gets more fun as he also is bad at ballet, and slurps when he eats, and huffs and pouts when he’s in the naughty chair.
I had not read any of Pignataro’s books before this but I may just have to track down some more because this one was just all kinds of adorable.
You can purchase I Wish I Had A Tiger via the following
Angus & Robertson | Fishpond | Dymocks
QBD | Amazon Aust | Amazon
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