The Tigers' Tale - Catherine Barr - ★★★.½

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AUTHOR: Catherine Barr

ILLUSTRATOR: Tara Anand
GENRE: Children's Nonfiction, Animals.
RATING: 3.5 Stars.

In a Nutshell: Not as much of a ‘tale’ as it is a look at the tiger numbers in India, and the conservation efforts in the Panna Tiger Reserve of Madhya Pradesh, India. I found the presentation a little dry, though the information is interesting.


India is home to more than half of all remaining tigers in the wild. So it was not surprising to see this picture book being set in India. This narrative tells us of how tigers almost disappeared from the Panna Tiger Reserve, and how scientists track the animals and ensure their safety, and how it is an ongoing struggle. I especially enjoyed the parts that highlighted how hard scientists work to keep track of wild tigers and how they have successfully rewilded tiger cubs.

The information in the book was fascinating, no doubt about that. The tiger facts provided in the book are both heartening and saddening. But when the title uses the word ‘tale’, I expect a story format. This was written more like an animal nonfiction, with only a couple of pages telling the ‘story’ of some specific tigers in the Reserve.

There was also too much text per page to make for comfortable digital reading. The physical book might be better on the eyes.

There is no animal like the tiger, at least in my eyes. It is majestic in every sense of the word. However, its numbers had been declining for decades due to various human activities, including poaching. In the last few years, the Indian government has tried to push the numbers to a safer level. While tigers are still endangered, the numbers are slightly better today, but there is still a long way to go. The final pages of the book detail what we can do to save the tiger from certain extinction.

The illustrations are pretty decent, but somehow, I wasn’t a big fan. I am still trying to figure out why.

To sum up, this would be a good book for schools to have while discussing animal conservation and rewilding efforts. The official suggested age group is 7-9 years.

My thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ) and NetGalley for the DRC of “The Tigers' Tale”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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