When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller

 

I came across When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller while I was looking for books for my Middle Grades Mission Challenge. It won the Newberry Award in 2021, so that was really all the persuasion I needed to pick it up. The inside flap, which promised a story about a young girl struggling with some family issues mixed in with traditional Korean folklore, only sweetened the deal. I've read a few middle grades books that mix contemporary issues with old cultural stories, and those have been some of my favorite reads so far this year. All signs were pointing to this novel becoming a new favorite, so I started off my reading with high hopes.  

The novel follows a young girl named Lily who, as the novel begins, has just moved with her family into her grandmother's (halmoni's) house. Halmoni is very ill and needs help around the house, so this is a stressful and sad time for the family. Upon arriving, Lily is immediately troubled by a strange occurrence. She sees a giant tiger, just like the ones in the folktales Halmoni tells her, standing in the middle of the street. Lily is the only one who can see it, so at first, she dismisses it as some sort of optical illusion. That proves to be untrue when the tiger appears again and starts speaking to her. The tiger explains that Halmoni has stolen something the tiger wants back, and if Lily will help her retrieve it, she will help Halmoni feel better. Desperate to help her family, Lily agrees. Deals with tigers, however, are tricky business, and Lily will need to keep her wits about her if she wants to make everything turn out right.

When You Trap a Tiger is a story about stories--the ones you find comfort in and tell over and over, the ones you tell yourself to cover up uncomfortable truths, and the ones that you lock away and try not to think about. Lily's quest to help Halmoni leads her to dig through all of these, and in the process, she discovers a lot about herself and her family. Watching her grow and come to some very mature realizations was a pleasure and probably the strongest aspect of the novel. The language was also very beautiful and the inclusion of Halmoni's Korean folktales was very engaging. For the most part, I did enjoy this read.

That being said, however, I did not like this book as much as I thought I was going to. Frankly, I'm stunned by this because it's the exact kind of story I typically love. I think the issue for me was the way the magical realism was handled. I felt like everything was left too hazy. What was real and what wasn't was never made clear, and the way the folktales connected to reality never clicked in a satisfying way for me. This didn't feel intentional. It felt clumsy. Something was continually off about it. I had trouble fully getting all the layers straight in my mind, and that really should not be an issue I have to deal with in a novel written for children. Of course, this wasn't a bad book by any means and I want to be very clear about that. I did still enjoy it. On the whole, however, I was surprised it was selected for the Newberry.

I have read two other books this year that connect cultural folktales with a modern storyline, The Magic Fish and The Last Cuentista. Both of those were phenomenal reads and are among my favorites for the year. Sadly, When You Trap a Tiger paled in comparison. I'm not sure how many actual middle school kids would be able to make it all the way through this book and enjoy it. Magical realism is high concept to begin with, and I don't think the way it was implemented here is particularly child-friendly. I'm definitely in the minority on this one though. Goodreads has pages and pages of excellent reviews for this, so I suppose I'll have to chalk my feelings up to personal preference. Even so, it was a good book that was a little disappointing. I'm not sorry I gave it a try. 

On a side note, with this novel, I have officially completed my Middle Grades Mission Challenge! I have read 24 fairly current middle grades books since the beginning of 2022 and some of them have been shockingly good. I'm going to continue on throughout the rest of the year and see how many more I can get to.

Challenge Tally

Middle Grade Mission: 24/24 - Finished!

Total Books Read in 2022: 69