AUNTIE TIGER

After telling her squabbling daughters not to let in strangers, Mother goes to the village, but what should appear but a smiling, kerchief-clad tiger pretending to be “Auntie”?

Big Sister detects Auntie’s tiger-like characteristics, but stubborn and lazy Little Sister foolishly believes that the visitor is bringing good things to eat and opens the door to the wily tiger, who eats her. Quick-thinking Big Sister devises an ingenious way to kill the tiger and rescue her younger sister, paving the way to the usual happy ending. Lee’s paintings depict a fantastic forest and interior scenes with details of rural Chinese dress and household furnishings, the human and animal characters displaying animated movements and cartoon-like expressions. The jacket flap notes that Yep has “adapted a Chinese tiger version” of “Little Red Riding Hood,” but there are no substantive notes of the tale’s provenance.

The award-winning author’s style adapts well to the brevity and pace of a traditional story, and this humorous take could well be a lead-in to the darker and far more intriguing Lon Po Po.