Reviews with content warning for Cancer - When You Trap a Tiger

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When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller

27 reviews

catladyreads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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annegoodreads's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

In When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller a Grandmother (halmoni)passes on the craft of storytelling. Lily is an 8-year-old Korean American. Her Mom moves Lily and her teen sister Sam from California to Washington to halmoni’s house on the hill. The Mom doesn’t tell Sam and Lily they are moving in with halmoni because she has brain cancer and is dying. Lily starts seeing a magical tiger straight out of halmoni's Korean folktales. Lily goes to the library for information on Korean folklore and tigers. There she meets a wonderful librarian Joe. Another library staffer Jensen is a teenager Lily and Sam befriend. Sam is a moody teenager who refers to her own sister as a stereotypical "QAG" ("Quiet Asian Girl"). The other odd part is a speech halmoni gives to Lily about The United States doing wrong to Korea (p. 241). halmoni gets sicker and Lily thinks the tiger is the reason that her grandmother is falling ill. So she wants to trap the Tiger so her grandmother can heal. Spoiler Alert: The grandmother dies with the two girls watching. The author tries to make the ending inspirational but it was pretty rough. As a Mom, I found the dialogue of the kids unrealistic for their ages. The book does have good parts but some conversations and realizations of the characters were odd. I know it won the 2021 Newbery Medal, but it wasn’t my favorite of the middle-grade fiction.

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linesiunderline's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This tale, rooted in Korean mythology, invites readers to think about the complicated journey of loss, claiming your stories, letting go, and the everyday magic of home and family. It’s easy to see why it won the Newbery. Fine writing, a touch of magic, diverse characters and complex themes make this book memorable.

“Sometimes believing is the bravest thing of all.”

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the_midnight_tea's review against another edition

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emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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bibliophilecats's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Was ich mir erhofft habe: ich habe in letzter Zeit viele zeitgenössische Bücher über/von koreanischen, chinesischen und taiwanesischen Autoren gelesen und wollte gerne noch mehr lesen. Außerdem mag ich Geschichten in Geschichten und Mythologie.

Fazit: Am Anfang brauchte ich etwas, um mich in die Geschichte einzufinden aber dann konnte ich das Buch gar nicht mehr aus der Hand legen. Die Märchen sind wunderbar eingewoben in die Erzählung. Obwohl man nicht sehr viel über die Charaktere erfährt stört das nicht, denn es geht um diesen einen Abschnitt in ihrem Leben, um ihre Halmoni (Oma), die schwer erkrankt ist und wie vor allem Lilly, aber auch ihre Mutter und Schwester, damit umgeht. Es ist ein tolles Buch über die Trauer und den drohenden Verlust eines geliebten Menschen. Von mir eine absolute Empfehlung.

Danke an Netgalley und HarperCollins Dragonfly für das Leseexemplar.

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library_kb's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Despite being a Newbery winner, (I read this one for grad school class) I did not particularly love this one. It felt like a book that adults like for kids rather than one kids would actually like. It does have a lot of beautiful, deep ideas about stories and identity, but I think the magical realism and slow pacing will turn off a lot of readers. However, the storytelling parts were definitely my favorites. It also kind of reminded me of the style of A Monster Calls and The Girl Who Drank the Moon, so maybe students who enjoy that style of writing will also enjoy this book!

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alylentz's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

So expertly written. I found this to be the perfect blend of fantasy elements into a great coming of age tale that deals with personal history, family, and loss. Readers who like mythical and adventure elements will really like this, and it also has great sibling and friendship dynamics.

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