The Tiger Who Would Be King

by James Thurber, JooHee Yoon (Illustrator)

Overview

Thurber's rapier wit meets its match in Yoon's intelligent, powerful imagery in this classic tale about the absurdity of omnipotence.

Gorgeously illustrated and including two gatefolds that give us a panoramic jungle at war, The Tiger Who Would Be King is as entertaining as it is wise, as wry as it is passionate. Yoon's humorous images support this beautifully written text with wit and insight. Her final portrait of the tiger in a sea of silence will stay with the reader for a long, long time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781592701827
Publisher:	Enchanted Lion
Publication date:	09/15/2015
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	10.30(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

About the Author

JooHee Yoon is an illustrator and printmaker committed to the art of bookmaking. She enjoys combining illustration with design whenever possible and using both traditional and industrial printing techniques for her projects. Rather than a single approach, she tries to match the tone of each project. She strives to create picture books that work on many levels and can be enjoyed by people of all ages.


Humorist, James Thurber (Dec. 8, 1894 – Nov. 2, 1961), joined the staff of The New Yorker in 1927. His contributions to that magazine, both as a writer and an artist, were instrumental in changing the character of American humor. His stories and cartoons have been collected in over thirty volumes and there have been adaptations for the stage, television, movies, and musical presentations.

Thurber House (www.ThurberHouse.org), continues the legacy of James Thurber and has awarded the Thurber Prize for outstanding American humor to such writers as Ian Frazier, Jon Stewart, Alan Zweibel, Joe Keenan and Calvin Trillin.

Editorial Reviews

09/07/2015
Most of Thurber's fables are lighthearted diversions, but this tale of a tiger that declares itself king of beasts finds the humorist at his darkest and driest. The forest animals, drawn into the tiger's revolt against the lion, fight without knowing why; when the dust clears, the tiger is indeed king of beasts—but only because all the other animals are dead. (Moral: "You can't very well be king of beasts if there aren't any.") As befits a tale of wholesale slaughter, Yoon's work is grim and haunting. Harnessing the energy of primitive folk art and using conflicting hues of red and green, Yoon (Beastly Verse) prints the creatures' big, blobby shapes right over one another, further heightening the sense of combat. A climactic gatefold captures two random moments in the chaos. On the outside, an elephant swipes at an approaching boar, and a stag rushes toward a rhinoceros. Opened up, the stag is entangled in the horns of a moose, and a zebra rears in rage. The illustrations constitute a wholly serious piece of artwork, one that may remind older readers of Picasso's Guernica. Ages 6–9. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"The illustrations constitute a wholly serious piece of artwork, one that may remind older readers of Picasso's Guernica." -- Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

01/01/2016
Gr 3 Up—Thurber's fable of the tiger who decided to overthrow the lion and become king of the beasts might remind people of some of the world's contemporary chaos. A massive battle erupts as the animals take sides in the attempted overthrow. Some of the animals did not know which side they were fighting for, and some "fought whoever was nearest, and some fought for the sake of fighting." "'What are we fighting for?' someone asked the aardvark. 'The old order,' said the aardvark. 'What are we dying for?' someone asked the zebra. 'The new order,' said the zebra." Yoon's strong color scheme of orange, green, black, and cream features crudely formed animals boldly filling black and sometimes cream pages. Oddly shaped palm-style trees and fields of grass spread across a few scenes, but masses of animals predominate with the heart of the horrendous battle spread profusely over a long double foldout view. This dark tale ends with all the animals dead "except the tiger, and his days were numbered and his time ticking away." As is customary in fables, there's a moral: "You can't very well be king of the beasts if there aren't any." VERDICT A perfect picture book for older readers that serves as a powerful lesson about war and great fodder for discussion.—Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston

School Library Journal

★ 2015-08-26
A cautionary tale about the futility of war by the late American humorist receives a stunning visual interpretation from Yoon. Violent chaos ensues when the eponymous tiger awakens one day and decides to challenge Leo the lion for the title "king of beasts." The lion is unwilling to give up his power without a fight, which quickly involves every creature in the jungle. A wordless double gatefold at the center of the book shows various animals in the throes of aggressive action, while subsequent text explains that the animals are not certain about what they're fighting for. The futility of war and the perils of a lust for power are the obvious messages here, but there's a darkly humorous tone in the characterizations of both tiger and lion that undercuts potential for dull preaching. Furthermore, Thurber delivers a straightforward moral when all but the tiger die in the war: "You can't very well be king of beasts if there aren't any," which overtly embraces and projects the intended meaning of his story. Yoon's artistic achievement, however, is the king of this picture book's triumphs. The limited palette of orange, green, white, and dark brown creates visually arresting spreads that fairly vibrate with energy despite the flat, print-inspired aesthetic. A picture book that will be embraced due to its successful handling of difficult themes. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews