Taken from the folk tale of Abu Kassim's Shoes, originally set in Persia, the author creates beautiful illustrations of animals, particularly tigers to tell the story of coming from a very poor background, building a house for his mother, the tiger is given a pain of hand made slippers.

When young, we wore them with pride. However, as he grew increasingly richer, he was asked why he wore such tattered shoes when he had so very much money to buy better. The tiger, orginally from poverty, forgot his background. Trying to dispose of the slippers, they seemed to always find their way back to him.

He is told that he should never forget the love and hard work of his mother and to appreciate his original heritage. He then made a special container for the shoes.

The illustrations of Brett are always unique. She is indeed a very talented author and artist. ( )

I liked this book for a few reasons. First, I liked the illustrations. The illustrations in the story help enhance the descriptions of the worn-out slippers in conjunction with the formal wear of the tiger. Another reason I like this book is that it pushes readers to think about success without the stereotypical success stories of being mean to others to get to the top. Lastly, I like the point of view of the story. The story is told by the tiger's son as a recollection of the story told from the dad to the son. The big idea of the story is to remember where you came from in order to fulfill your life in the future. ( )

Celebrated picture-book author/artist Jan Brett turns her attention to the classic folktale concerning Abu Kassim's shoes in this new title, setting her story in Persia and peopling it with animals. Born into a poor family, the eponymous tiger works hard and rises in the world, wearing the slippers his loving mother made for him. Once he is grown and successful, he is prompted to get rid of his shoes by some of the other animals, who question why a wealthy tiger would wear such tattered footwear. No matter how many times he throws them away however, they always keep coming back, until finally the tiger accepts that they are a part of himself and his past that he cannot be rid of...

I was familiar with the Moroccan variant of this story, which can be found in picture-book form in Harold Berson's Kassim's Shoes, and I am also quite familiar with Jan Brett's work, so I was curious to see what she would do in The Tale of the Tiger Slippers. All in all I found the story moderately engaging, and thought the artwork was lovely. That said, although I am always happy to encounter variants of folktales I know from other cultural settings, I do wish that Brett has given her source for this Persian version. In the dust-jacket blurb it mentions that Brett read it in a longer work, but never specifies what work that is. I also found myself wondering about the decision to make this a story about tigers rather than humans, as the substitution just felt rather unnecessary, from a storytelling perspective. If she wanted to tell a story with tigers, why not create an original one? This isn't Brett's best work, but is still one I would recommend to her fans. ( )

Checked out by: Varstogi
Due by: December 22
Overdue $.50 per day