Tiger Tales

This is our fourth installment in the "Publishers" series. This week I've been talking about publishers that really stand out to me as producing consistently good reading materials. (See Part I, Part II, Part III.) One such publishing company is Tiger Tales. Tiger Tales really focuses on producing books that deal with character education in storybook format. I can't say my three year old has picked up on these, but it becomes obvious to older readers.

We have really enjoyed Tiger Tales around these parts, and have been particularly fond of the following books by Ruth Galloway (see my review of these books over at 5 Minutes for Books):




Smiley Shark is one of our top favorites and we like to read it while using our shark puppet which we've talked about before. As I've mentioned before, in the series by Ruth Galloway the lesson that the books focus on primarily are being confident and comfortable with your individual skills and talents. The way we would approach this is to say, "God made you unique and special and gave you particular skills and talents He meant for you to use." That is what most Tiger Tales books teach.

The illustrations in most Tiger Tales books are bright and cheerful, and also bold and simplistic appealing to even the youngest of readers. Their stories are brief and characters engaging. I've really been impressed at the quality of stories they have produced, from sea creatures to cuddly bears.

Their fall titles have recently been released and I have a few to review for you below.

What if you just can't go to sleep? Do you count sheep? That's what Emma tries to do in The 108th Sheep. She assumes and expects that she will be able to fall asleep by the time she gets to the number ten. However, she is surprised to discover herself still awake at sheep number 107. The problem intensifies when it is discovered that, try as he might, the 108th sheep doesn't have the strength it takes to leap over the bed! Some problem solving must take place in order to get the weak little sheep over the bed before Emma finally falls asleep. Written and illustrated by Ayano Imai, this is a simple story, which has a familiar ring to it, but enough of a twist to keep the reader engaged and interested.

We pulled My Favorite Michael out of the box it came in and read it three times straight. We would have read it again, but I quickly distracted my young reader with a different activity! (I enjoy reading good books multiple times, but not straight in a row!) In My Favorite Michael we meet a young boy who decides that it would be fun to dress up as someone else. First he dresses up as his daddy and "goes to work." Then he decides he needs a vacation and dresses up as a knight and saves the princess (his sister) from the dragon (his dog). Eventually though the princess has to take a nap and so Michael decides he'll be a pirate and steal some booty from the Captain of the ship (i.e., a cookie from his mommy). Cute, cute story which, of course, concludes with the idea that mommy's favorite person is Michael himself. We both really liked this one and will no doubt read it again. Many times over. (As an additional note, the next morning Daddy told me that My Favorite Michael was the requested reading of the morning and daddy himself read it three times straight as well! Obviously, this book is a hit and we like the message.)

One of our favorite titles from last year's offerings from Tiger Tales is A Magical Christmas. Mommy loves this one. It sparkles. Oh yes! Covered in mice, each one taking the time to describe what they think is so magical about Christmastime, this book is a true holiday delight and one I plan on reading multiple times this Christmas season. Love it, love it! (P.S. It sparkles.)



In the meantime, here are some other Tiger Tales books that we have enjoyed that you might find yourself drawn to also: