It's one of the longest picture book texts that Rosie first managed to sit through and I think that's partly due to the imagination of the story and the familiarity of the setting. Rosie loves to serve tea and cake (yes I am training her to be my maid) although we don't generally have afternoon tea.
You probably know the story but I'll briefly recap. A mum and her daughter are having tea together when the doorbell rings and a tiger appears. He eats them out of house and home and drinks everything, even all the water out of the taps. I think it's that detail that is one of my favourite things, it captures perfectly a child's logic and imagination.
Then daddy comes home from work and takes them out for sausages and chips at the local cafe. Sophie is in her nightie and wellies - and has been envied by many children ever since! The next day they buy a big tin of tiger food but the tiger never comes back.
Judith Kerr is a really interesting author and I wish I'd got the chance to go to her talk at the Word Up festival in London the other week. Of course she's author of the Mog books too and I'm sure we'll be visiting them soon enough!
There's even a stage show of The Tiger Who Came to Tea and lots of resources online for teachers and extra activities to do with the book. It's a book that I think will grow with us since it works on many levels.
No comments:
Post a Comment