rainbowbookworm 's review for:

When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller

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I only picked this one up because it won the Newbury. When I started reading I was disappointed because I thought it was going to be a story told before: a family member is sick and a young protagonist escapes reality to protect a fragile psychological stability. Slowly, my cynical heart softened. The elements of Korean folktales worked well when interspersed with the main story of Halmoni's health and the sacrifices her daughter and granddaughters were undertaking in order to take care of her. Of course, I am ignorant of most things regarding Korean culture and took them as faith. I was pleased when the author added her note at the end explaining how she thought she was creating these folktales, but they must have been in her subconscious as her research uncovered connections between Korean history and folktales and what she had actually set forth on the page.

The book reminded me of [a:Meg Cannistra|17463911|Meg Cannistra|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]'s [b:The Trouble with Shooting Stars|43320242|The Trouble with Shooting Stars|Meg Cannistra|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1563106528l/43320242._SY75_.jpg|58979732] which I read earlier this year. In that book it Cannistra's protagonist gets to go on actual journeys with the spacitricci, which could very well be part of Italian folklore, in order to escape how her family's dynamic changed after a car accident that physically affected her and her father. I enjoyed that one a bit more, but that may be due because I am more familiar with Italy and its culture and felt included in the word play in Cannistra's book.