TIPTOE TIGER

A tiger searches for a play date in the jungle.

Tara isn’t ready for bed. She wants to play one more game, but who will play with her? She spies some fluttering wings in the sky. Perhaps they belong to someone who wants to play. “Let’s tell Tara to tiptoe up quietly / so she doesn’t scare them away,” cautions the narrator. But oh no! Tara doesn’t tiptoe. Her pounce frightens the butterflies away (“Can you flutter your arms / up and down really fast?”). Then Tara spies some owls in a tree (“How many owls can you count?”). This time Tara tiptoes, but she also roars. Oh, Tara. The owls swoop away. (“I bet you can roar just as loudly as Tara.”) The interactive prompts aren’t just animal sounds and actions; there is also some light mathematics: “But look! There’s a tail / dangling down from a tree. / Can you stretch your arms wide / to show how long it is?” Teckentrup’s bright orange feline stands out against the large, blocky foliage and silhouetted moon. The palette gradually darkens as the night stretches on and Tara finally settles down, snuggled and content, with the (perhaps naïve) hope that readers will do so, too. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

For those who need one more pounce before bed.