My Tiger
Joy Cowley and David Barrow
Gecko Press

We first encounter the young boy narrator’s tiger as the two of them are wandering down the road just outside a cake shop. The window is full of the tiger’s favourite food: cake. They enter and the baker is anxious to know whether the tiger is dangerous. “He only eats cake”, his friend replies and the feline proceeds to sample some of the cakes. Almost inevitably after a diet of sweet confectionary, the tiger gets a bad toothache.

Time for a visit to the dentist. Clearly alarmed like the baker, the dentist inquires whether the tiger is dangerous. She receives the same assurance as the baker and so the tiger is coaxed into her chair. The drill makes the patient howl and growl but eventually the tooth is fixed. “Tell him he’s not to have cake again,” the dentist tells first the boy and then the tiger.

So what is the tiger supposed to eat: what do you think is best suited to his needs? …

The hilarious, dark ending will likely satisfy young human listeners to Joy Cowley’s dead pan, simple but very funny telling, In contrast David Barrow’s wonderfully expressive watercolour illustrations portray the tiger as truly intimidating with its vast size, and those jagged teeth that we see in some close up views.