“Anya realized there was only one choice for a girl with a tiger tail. She would have to run away and join the circus. Would it be so bad? Popcorn for dinner. Swinging on the trapeze. Feeding peanuts to the elephants…”
A Tiger Tail (Or What Happened to Anya on Her First Day of School) by Mike Boldt
Did you ever have some part of your appearance that you worriedly thought everyone was staring at and everyone was noticing? Even if in reality no one, or at least very few people noticed let alone cared about? An example that stands out to me in my mind was the time as a young adult that I got my wisdom teeth removed and had to re-enter society before my “chipmunk” cheeks had reduced back to normal size. I was so self conscious and awkward smiles only emphasized it even more! I was stressed and unhappy with the situation thinking everyone would stare, when to my surprise, no one stared and a boy I though was cute even asked me out on a date! I was so floored that I accidentally let my guard down and smiled! The horror!
Now that is just a funny memory, but the truth was I really was nervous initially. Children definitely aren’t immune to this feeling and the physical feature that they may be concerned about may be something permanent. Like worrying their ears are too big, or thinking they are too short. And you know what can really add to that stress, or even cause it to emerge in the first place? The first day of school jitters.
This is a book that addresses those fears head on, and with a delightful sense of humor. Because why write a story about a little girl concerned about the size of her ears when you go all-out and give her a tiger tail! That’s right, a tiger tail!!! The little girl in this story (Anya) woke up on the first day of school to discover that she had acquired one overnight and her mind immediately started racing through worried troubles of embarrassment and not fitting in. After a whole morning of frantically trying to remove her tail and get out of going to school, she winds-up having to go anyway, tiger tail and all. To her massive relief, when she meets her class for the first time she discovers while she may be the only girl with a tiger tail, she is not the only girl that is “different”. This is culminated with an illustration of a class photo at the end of the book where the reader can delight in all the wonderful differences each child has. Some realistic and some fanciful.
I love the message in this book, I love that her parents aren’t phased at all by her tail and immediately accept it, I love how it addresses concerns that children actually have with a sense of humor to ease things, I love it as a way to start discussion on accepting your differences and the differences of others, I love it to teach acceptance and self love, and I love the fantastic text and illustration. This one is a winner all around and a new “must” in my opinion for back-to-school books.
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