It's Test Day, Tiger Turcotte

July 1, 2004
Gr 2-4-In this beginning chapter book, second-grader Tiger Turcotte is nervous about having to take a practice standardized test. His biggest problem, though, turns out to be filling out the cover: name, grade, birth date, and race. Tiger is Black, Native American, and Hispanic. His teacher and a parent volunteer argue over the question, and finally tell him to fill in "Other." He leaves the space blank, then worries that he will get in trouble for that. Later, Tiger's dad compares race to ice-cream flavors; no matter how many you mix together, you still have ice cream. Tiger feels better, and, fortunately, his teacher discovers that they were using an old test form. The new one has a "Multiracial" category. This quick, easy read touches on the issue of test anxiety, but is more about racial identity and pride. Tiger's voice accurately depicts a little boy who is anxious about something that everyone says is very important. Full-page, half-page, and spot pencil illustrations capture the characters' emotions. Despite some contrived scenes, this is a good addition.-Sharon R. Pearce, Chippewa Elementary School, Bensenville, IL

Copyright 2004 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

5tpayne - 3/25/13 It's about a kid named Tiger Turcotte his grandma got him a tiger clock for his birthday he likes it and it rrrr! and it scared him so he put it on beeping so that it wouldn't scare him and there is a big test for that day and he is scared so he brings his lucky pencils and they are taking a practice test and there are bubbles to fill in and he has to put in his first and last name in and his teachers name and his birthday and his race and he does not know what race he is so he skips it so that he don't get it wrong and at recess he acts like a spy and try's to find out what race everybody is and he finds out what everybody is and than he gets picked up after school by his dad and his dad is black and they have to go see a person to help her and they get done and they go get ice cream and Tiger gets 2 scoops of rainbow bubble gum and his dad gets 1 vanilla and 1 chocolate and Tiger picks out all the bubble gum and then he goes back to school and gets the race paper and they took out other and put in multiracial and he puts that one in bubbles