Riding the Tiger

March 19, 2001
Bunting's provocative allegory uses a tiger to personify the powerful allure of the gang. When the tiger calls Danny by name and invites him for a ride through their tough city neighborhood, the boy accepts, but soon learns that he has made a dangerous mistake. The tiger talks about respect, but wins it through taunts and intimidation. When Danny tries to get off the tiger's back, the tiger threatens him. "But maybe I don't want you to get off," the tiger says. "Maybe I want to get to know you better." Only when the tiger traumatizes a homeless man can the boy conquer his own fear to aid the tiger's victim. Bunting's 1997 picture book, Your Move, highlighted the same dilemma; in it, the boy's loving family and supportive neighbors are set against the menace of the gang. Here the story recedes in importance as the author trumpets the moral dilemma ("Do you want what I want?" asks the tiger, "Because anyone who isn't for us is against us"). Danny's family and friends never appear onstage, and the conflict is played out entirely in Danny's mind. Frampton's stark, stylized woodcuts, medieval in their conception and intensity, heighten the story's morality-play atmosphere. Like Your Move, the book will be most useful as a discussion-starter. Ages 6-9.

March 1, 2001
Gr 2-4-Ten-year-old Danny is new in town, so when an imposing tiger offers him a ride, he's flattered and intrigued. However, as they swagger together through the city, Danny notices that the beast is eliciting fear-not respect-from shopkeepers, school kids, and neighbors. When a young man invites him to join a basketball game and Danny vacillates, the tiger turns threatening and seems to grow larger. Finally, it terrifies a homeless man into injuring himself, and Danny must decide whether to surrender his powerful perch and help, or remain on the now-frightening beast. His courageous and painful fall to the pavement and ultimate concern for the stranger break the tiger's hold. Danny denies his association with the big cat and it disappears. The woodcut illustrations and dark palette capture the grittiness of the setting; the angular and fierce animal is drawn with thick strong lines while people, with curving profiles and trusting eyes, project hope as well as fear. Bunting's thinly veiled allegory will be obvious to most school-aged readers and especially pertinent to those struggling with gang membership. The first-person telling allows for doubt and introspection; Danny is exhilarated by his alliance with the beast, then struggles with doubt and self-deprecation when its ruthlessness is revealed. The powerful imagery ("He smelled of something dark and exciting") contrasts with an occasional dated expression ("The concrete hit me like a pile driver") but pacing is as relentless as a stalking cat and the message is as purposeful. A provocative look at a timely topic.-Carol Ann Wilson, Westfield Memorial Library, NJ

Copyright 2001 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 1, 2001
Gr. 3-5. In this picture book for older readers, Bunting returns to a theme she examined earlier in " Your Move "(1998), that of the choices that children must make when they are tempted to join a gang. This time she uses allegory to make her point. A tiger comes along and invites 10-year-old Danny to climb on its back. Once there, Danny notices the reactions of the people they meet and grows increasingly uneasy as he realizes how frightened they are. The metaphor works beautifully to convey the power and allure of a gang leader and the special feelings of being singled out by someone powerful and splendid. Frampton's woodcuts capture the tiger's magnificence, cruelty, and wickedness by highlighting, at different times, the tiger's sharp teeth, huge paws, and terrifying eyes. The pictures, colored in browns, oranges and reds, mix the real with the fantastical and blend beauty and brutality for a spine-tingling effect. They also mask Danny's ethnicity so that a wide variety of readers can identify with him. Parents, teachers, and others working with children will find this book, and " Your Move," excellent for discussing what it really means to join a gang--and how to find the courage to steer clear.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)