Oh, No! Not AGAIN! It's a Tiger! by David LaRochelle

ARE YOU READY FOR A STORY?

ME, TOO!

WE'LL START IN THE JUNGLE WHERE THE TALL TREES GROW AND THE MONKEYS SWING FROM VINE TO VINE.

WAIT A MINUTE!

THAT'S NOT A MONKEY. THAT LOOKS LIKE. . .

A TIGER! RUN!

One tiger is bad enough, but just when our heroes, a boy and a girl out for a quiet storytime walk in the woods, make their escape to a deep, dark cave, seemingly populated only by flapping bats, they notice some shadows in the back of the cavern. Oh. no! those shadows look like. . .

A TIGER! RUN!

It's definitely a case of "we've got to stop meeting like this!" as our storybook strollers succeed in eluding what is seemingly that same tiger over and over again, in David LaRochelle's forthcoming It's a Tiger! Chronicle Books, 2012), In one delightful double-page spread, the kids scale a convenient ladder out of the cavern into the sunny jungle again, only to find themselves in a nest of snakes. And one of the snakes looks like the striped tail of someone all too familiar:

BLUE SNAKES, GREEN SNAKES, EVEN A BIG FUZZY SNAKE
THAT LOOKS JUST LIKE. . .

A TIGER!

RUN!

It's out of the frying pan and into the fire for our two fleet-footed protagonists, as they meet the same striped critter at every turn. This tiger tale is a sure kid pleaser, with it predictable refrain which will have youngsters joining in with each suspenseful page turn. Thanks to illustrator Jeremy Tankard's terrific, stylized illustrations, this tiger is both the essence of tigerosity and yet somehow possessed of the warm furry friendliness of a plush toy pal. With strong black-line and vivid colors, this fantasy tiger turns out, of course, to be a real pussycat, one who'll curl up, let the kids use him for a pillow, get his ears scratched, and listen to a story just for him, one which has a familiar beginning:

WE'LL START IN THE JUNGLE WHERE THE TALL TREES GROW....

[Insert your own tiger tale here.]