From Tyger to Tigger, Lizzy Stewart picks her top tigers in fiction, of all different shapes, sizes and stripes
The lion might be considered the King of Beasts but it’s the tiger that has always captured my imagination, perhaps as a result of a childhood spent with a particularly silly tabby-cat? Or an early encounter with Judith Kerr’s hungry house-guest? The tiger has often been a subject in my illustrations, and was an obvious subject when it came to writing and illustrating a picture book.
There’s something in the feline-slink of a tiger’s movements, the simple graphic appeal of those black and orange stripes, the inviting symmetry of their faces; tigers just make great story characters! Hungry, friendly, fierce or playful, there are all kinds of tigers to be found in children’s books, but these are my absolute favourites...
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