Tiger Skin Rug: A Magical Journey

Lal Patel, nearly 12, and his younger brother Dilip have just moved to Scotland from India with their parents and maternal grandmother for their father’s work. Unlike their modern housing compound in India, their new home, Graystanes, is a large, fully furnished bungalow in a small town, and feels haunted. Though both boys are homesick, things start to look up when they meet their exuberant, white freckled neighbor Jenny, who’s eager to show them around town. Concurrently, the tiger skin rug in their drawing room starts to converse with Dilip, temporarily becoming an apparently resurrected tiger when it does. Bringing Jenny into their secret, the brothers decide to help the tiger fulfill the promise he had made right before he was poached. Soon, the group is magically traveling to London and then India on the rug in search of the tiger’s promise. The children meet new people, solve riddles, and finally help deliver the tiger’s message. Though the text, narrated by Lal, includes some cultural inaccuracies, Haig’s characters are lively in this swiftly paced fantastical debut. Ages 8–12. (Nov.)