The Tiger Rising
Written by: Kate DiCamillo
Cover illustration by: Chris Sheban
Published by Scholastic, Inc. in 2001 in NY
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age: Grades 3-5
Summary: A very lonely boy named Rob, and his father move to a motel far from their former home after the boy's mother dies from cancer. Rob's father is so grief-stricken after his wife's death that he tells his son not to cry about it and not to even mention her name. Rob struggles greatly with this task his father had set for him because he needs to grieve, but he "had a way of not thinking about things. He imagined himself as a suitcase that was too full, like the one he had packed when they left Jacksonville after the funeral. He made all his feelings go inside the suitcase; he stuffed them in tight and then sat on the suitcase and locked it shut" (3). One day, after moving to a new town and trying to get used to the boys always teasing him on the bus ride to school, Rob meets a new girl named Sistine after the Sistine Chapel. They become great friends and they help one another. Sistine helps Rob share his emotions and Rob, in turn, helps her discover that she has to rescue herself. With the combined help of a tiger owned by the hotel's owner and the story of a pet bird, this story deals with grief, sadness, and proves to have wonderful metaphors for life.
Response: The most impressive thing I noticed about this book was the metaphor of the tiger and the huge amount of imagery Kate DiCamilo brings to her writing. Just like in Because of Winn-Dixie, the author's idea behind the story is so much more than just finding a tiger in the woods.
One of the best examples of imagery in this book is in the above quote about the suitcase of emotions.
One of the first things readers learn about Rob is that he has this mysterious rash on both of his legs. His legs always seemed to itch at mysterious times: when he thought of setting the tiger free, when he talked to the owner about feeding the tiger, and right after he and Sistine have a fight about him not wanting to set the tiger free. Willie May, a cleaning lady at the motel, says that Rob "is keeping all that sadness down low, in [his] legs. [He's] not letting it get up to [his] heart, where it belongs. [He needs] to let that sadness rise on up" (37). Letting the sadness "rise on up" is like letting the tiger out of its cage and setting it free. One is the metaphor for the other.
Also, sunshine and rain are metaphors for the feelings Rob has in this book. He recalls "On the day of his mother's funeral it had been so sunshiny that it hurt his eyes. And after the funeral, he and his father had to stand outside in the hot, bright light an shake everybody's hand" (32). Earlier that day Rob had been crying and his father made him stop. The sunshine is a metaphor for the last time he showed emotion. It seems to rain every day throughout the book (and Rob does not ever cry during these times) until his father shoots the loose tiger. At this point Rob "opened his suitcase" (107) of emotion and lashed out at his father for not allowing him to grieve properly for his mother. Both father and son then grieve for the first time for their loss since the day of the funeral. The tiger of sadness is dead and the suitcase of emotions is now wide open for both of them.
Teaching Connections: The back of this book provides a multitude of literature circle questions for students keyed to multiple levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. One of my favorite questions from this collection is "When Rob looks at his father's hands, he calls them "complicated hands." What does he mean by this? Do you think most parent's hands are complicated? Explain." I believe that a class could have a very long discussion with just this one question. There is so much detail that could be incorporated in the answer!
I also think the following questions would be appropriate to ask students throughout, or following their reading of The Tiger Rising.
Do you think the suitcase was an appropriate metaphor for Rob's emotions? What other metaphors would have been appropriate here?
Why is holding in one's emotions a bad thing to do?
Was the reaction of the bus driver to the boys teasing Rob the correct response to the situation? What should he have done?
What is the significance of the name Sistine?
Why were the characters Rob and Sistine become such great friends?
What does Willie May mean when she says "Who don't know something in a cage" (64)?
(Image retrieved from http://www.bocalibrary.org/tweens/images/book_covers/dicamillo_tigerrising.JPG on 19 April 2008)
Written by: Kate DiCamillo
Cover illustration by: Chris Sheban
Published by Scholastic, Inc. in 2001 in NY
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age: Grades 3-5
Summary: A very lonely boy named Rob, and his father move to a motel far from their former home after the boy's mother dies from cancer. Rob's father is so grief-stricken after his wife's death that he tells his son not to cry about it and not to even mention her name. Rob struggles greatly with this task his father had set for him because he needs to grieve, but he "had a way of not thinking about things. He imagined himself as a suitcase that was too full, like the one he had packed when they left Jacksonville after the funeral. He made all his feelings go inside the suitcase; he stuffed them in tight and then sat on the suitcase and locked it shut" (3). One day, after moving to a new town and trying to get used to the boys always teasing him on the bus ride to school, Rob meets a new girl named Sistine after the Sistine Chapel. They become great friends and they help one another. Sistine helps Rob share his emotions and Rob, in turn, helps her discover that she has to rescue herself. With the combined help of a tiger owned by the hotel's owner and the story of a pet bird, this story deals with grief, sadness, and proves to have wonderful metaphors for life.
Response: The most impressive thing I noticed about this book was the metaphor of the tiger and the huge amount of imagery Kate DiCamilo brings to her writing. Just like in Because of Winn-Dixie, the author's idea behind the story is so much more than just finding a tiger in the woods.
One of the best examples of imagery in this book is in the above quote about the suitcase of emotions.
One of the first things readers learn about Rob is that he has this mysterious rash on both of his legs. His legs always seemed to itch at mysterious times: when he thought of setting the tiger free, when he talked to the owner about feeding the tiger, and right after he and Sistine have a fight about him not wanting to set the tiger free. Willie May, a cleaning lady at the motel, says that Rob "is keeping all that sadness down low, in [his] legs. [He's] not letting it get up to [his] heart, where it belongs. [He needs] to let that sadness rise on up" (37). Letting the sadness "rise on up" is like letting the tiger out of its cage and setting it free. One is the metaphor for the other.
Also, sunshine and rain are metaphors for the feelings Rob has in this book. He recalls "On the day of his mother's funeral it had been so sunshiny that it hurt his eyes. And after the funeral, he and his father had to stand outside in the hot, bright light an shake everybody's hand" (32). Earlier that day Rob had been crying and his father made him stop. The sunshine is a metaphor for the last time he showed emotion. It seems to rain every day throughout the book (and Rob does not ever cry during these times) until his father shoots the loose tiger. At this point Rob "opened his suitcase" (107) of emotion and lashed out at his father for not allowing him to grieve properly for his mother. Both father and son then grieve for the first time for their loss since the day of the funeral. The tiger of sadness is dead and the suitcase of emotions is now wide open for both of them.
Teaching Connections: The back of this book provides a multitude of literature circle questions for students keyed to multiple levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. One of my favorite questions from this collection is "When Rob looks at his father's hands, he calls them "complicated hands." What does he mean by this? Do you think most parent's hands are complicated? Explain." I believe that a class could have a very long discussion with just this one question. There is so much detail that could be incorporated in the answer!
I also think the following questions would be appropriate to ask students throughout, or following their reading of The Tiger Rising.
Do you think the suitcase was an appropriate metaphor for Rob's emotions? What other metaphors would have been appropriate here?
Why is holding in one's emotions a bad thing to do?
Was the reaction of the bus driver to the boys teasing Rob the correct response to the situation? What should he have done?
What is the significance of the name Sistine?
Why were the characters Rob and Sistine become such great friends?
What does Willie May mean when she says "Who don't know something in a cage" (64)?
(Image retrieved from http://www.bocalibrary.org/tweens/images/book_covers/dicamillo_tigerrising.JPG on 19 April 2008)
1 comment:
Thanks for pointing out the metaphors and the imagery; and yes, the notion of "complicated hands" serves as a wonderful springboard for discussion. Did you notice similarities between Opal and Rob?
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