When You Trap a Tiger: (Newbery Medal Winner) Hardcover – January 28, 2020

How many times did I come close to tears while listening to this book? Let me count... 1, 2, 3, ..... 37, 38, ... Okay, I can't actually put a specific number on it, but it was a lot. There was so much going on in this novel that started out as a simple story with a tiger spirit. The feelings that Lily was dealing with, both before and after she found out her grandmother was sick, and the tension that was always there between her and Sam were so realistic that I found myself tearing up or having a catch in my throat so many times.The feelings that are evoked by Lily's simple desire to make her grandmother better, and how she deals with what happens as she tries to achieve her goal, were beautifully written. Then, to intersperse all of that with the stories that we got to hear, both from the grandmother and the tiger, were beautiful.Because I have seen so many other reviews complain about this, I want to address the information that comes up about Sam at the end. <spoiler>Yes, it is revealed that she is lesbian. No, it was not just "thrown in there" or "included to be politically correct." A person's sexuality doesn't have to be plot-relevant to be included. LGBTQ+ people exist, everywhere. Let them exist. And, for those who are grabbing their pearls over a MG book having a lesbian in it, children of all ages have siblings who identify as LGBTQ+; why should they not be represented in the literature, too? Sam is a teenager, so it is perfectly normal that she would be discovering who she is - and that includes her sexual identity!</spoiler>For this book, I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated by Greta Jung. I thought she did a wonderful job, and I really appreciated hearing someone pronounce the Korean words so that, when I pick up the book to read again, I will know how they are pronounced.

Ever since she was a small child, Lily’s Halmoni has told her stories about tigers and warned her of their duplicity. When Lily’s family moves to Washington and she sees a tiger in the middle of the road, she learns that the stories her Halmoni told her are tangled with half-truths, stars, and family secrets. In an effort to save her Halmoni from her terminal illness, Lily traps the very tiger that she was warned about — but will it help heal Halmoni, or will the terrible stories grow teeth?–From the moment Lily looked out of the car window and spied a tiger in the rain, this story had my heart. It’s so much more than a novel about a girl learning to deal with the loss of her beloved grandmother — it’s a story about the blending of generations, the blending of cultures, and the blending of magic, myth, and reality. The very real and extremely raw challenges that Lily faces (moving to a new town, making new friends, dealing with a terminally ill family member, growing apart from her sister and mother) are infused with magic in a way that keeps readers questioning what is real and what is merely imagined.One of the most obvious examples of this is that Lily repeatedly encounters and converses with a tiger, but only in the dead of night, and once after she admits to having fallen asleep. It would be easy to write off the tiger as a figment of her sleep-deprived imagination, but at the end of the story, the tiger clears a path through the rain — a path which Lily’s sister, Sam, can clearly see. Of course, Halmoni can see the tiger as well, but there are several heartbreaking scenes sprinkled throughout the novel that make it clear that hallucinations are a side effect of her brain cancer. So what is real, then? What power do words, stories, and tigers have?As someone who doesn’t know much about Korean folklore and spirituality, I was fascinated with the mythology and descriptions of ritualistic practices such as kosa and using mugwort for protection. The author’s note at the end of the novel delves further into the author’s connection to her Korean heritage, and it’s definitely worth a read.As a reader, writer, and teacher, I love this book because it is a story about stories. Lily finds inner-strength, yes, but it’s clear that words have strength, too. Ultimately, her power comes from being brave enough to forge her own story.

I am an English Language teacher at the local elementary school who is always looking for chapter books that are appropriate for my students who mostly are immigrants. The book’s setting spans cultures which my students will be able to identify with. We all grew up with some level of imagination and this story weaves a world of magic, fantasy and reality. It relates the struggles of life and the reality of death.

Lily Bean and her big sister Sam are not happy with their mother at all. She has picked them up and moved them to another town without asking them. It's where their grandmother lives and they love her but they miss their school and friends.But soon they realize why they have moved. Their grandmother, their wonderful eccentric grandmother who tells them stories from their Korean culture, is sick. In fact, she is maybe dying. How can this be?Lily is sure there is something she can do. When she sees a huge tiger, she knows it is the one from all the stories her grandmother tells. She asks the tiger to help but the tiger could care less. Finally, the tiger agrees to help if Lily can find all the stories that her grandmother stole from the tigers and return them. Lily sets out on her mission with the help of friends she has made in the new town but can she be successful?This book is a Newberry Award winner. It helps children deal with several childhood issues many will encounter. The first is dealing with a family change like moving to a new house or town. It helps them realize that each culture has legends and stories that are unique and that define those belonging to that culture. Finally, it helps them realize that sometimes, no matter how much you love someone, they cannot stay but must move on to the next step in their journey. Children often encounter the deaths of grandparents so this issue is quite important. This book is recommended for young adult readers or parents trying to help children deal with change.