An Extra Treat: A Tiger Called Tomas by Charlotte Zolotow

Once there was a little boy named Tomas. He was very nice.

But when his family moved to a new house, he took it into his head that the new people might not like him.

So he never left the stoop.

Every day a little girl named Marie played hopscotch alone on the sidewalk, but when his mother urged him to play with her, Tomas said, "Maybe she wouldn't like me."

Tomas stays on his stoop. The lady across the street works in her flowers with her big black cat every day. The cat looks nice, but Tomas is afraid to join them. The same is true for a tall, sad-looking boy named Paul, and a man who walks his big black poodle up and down the street. The dog looks at Paul like he wants to play, but Tomas is stuck on his stoop.

But the day before Halloween, Tomas' mother brings him an orange and black tiger costume and mask. Tomas tries them on, admiring his long striped tail. He is pleased.

"No one will know me when I go trick-or-treating!" he thought.

But when Tomas the Tiger rings the bell at the house of the lady with the black cat, she says,

"Well, Hello! Happy Halloween, Tomas!"

She invites him to come over and play with her cat some time.

"He gets lonely," the lady said.

"So do I," said Tomas.

Tomas checks his mask to see if it is indeed still covering his face. It is. But Tall Paul knows who he is, and the man with the poodle invites him along on his daily walks.

Even a little witch with a broom knows his name and invites him over for a game of hopscotch.

It looks like Tomas' stoop is going to be empty on the day after Halloween, in the brand-new, revised edition of noted children's author Charlotte Zolotow's classic Halloween hit, A Tiger Called Tomás (Soucebooks/Jabberwocky, 2018). With an introduction by Zolotow's daughter Crescent Dragonwagon, this edition is the third revision of Zolotow's understated but poignant story of a lonely boy whose shyness keeps him from making new friends.

Artist Marta Miguens' new illustrations are as vivid as those in the 2003 edition and brighter than the original drawings in the 1963 edition, making this one a great addition to the story of how this timid doubting Thomas finds new friends. "A must-read for introverted kids, it's a worthy update to the 1963 original," Kirkus Reviews says.