Tiger Wild

Lily is a small girl with dark hair, and Tiger, who lives with her, is large, knavish, and unrepentant. Not only does he steal strawberry fairy cakes and unravel purple yarn belonging to Penny, the home’s resident adult, but “he isn’t sorry,” Lily announces. “Which was true,” the narrator notes, “he wasn’t.” The charismatic Tiger talks Lily into running away: “We can be wild!” he promises. Though Lily goes along, and is glad to have a protector, she sometimes wants quiet and is truly irritated when she discovers that Tiger has eaten all their supplies. Fortunately, rescue is close at hand. Millward’s artwork is joyously true to Tiger’s wildness—scribbly marks and loopy lines convey the adventure, and the letters of important words appear in passionate strokes of color (“They stomped through the long grass”). But what can be made of Tiger, whose insipid remorse is no more than an afterthought? He doesn’t have to fix anything he has broken or make more of the food he’s eaten, and it’s not clear whether he actually exists or is a naughtier part of Lily’s consciousness. In any case, the sheer anarchy of Tiger’s exuberance offers brief respite from manners, schedules, and other tiresome restraints, showing that there’s room for freedom and order in reasonable turns. Ages 3–7. [em](June) [/em]