Tiptoe Tiger
By Jane Clarke
Illustrated by Britta Teckentrup
Nosy Crow
November 8^th, 2022
Ages 4 to 6

Tara the Tiger still wants to play as the sun sets. She pounces at butterflies, bounces at peacocks, roars at owls, and finally, with the help of readers, tiptoes past a crabby crocodile to her mother and bed. The story is participatory, urging children to flap their arms, roar, whisper, and guess the next animals to come along. Reminiscent of a morning TV show, like Dora the Explorer, or Blue’s Clues, the book asks for the reader’s help to convince Tara to tiptoe so as not to scare away the other animals. This rarely works. Illustrated digitally in a big, blocky style, the animals and plants are made of large and simple shapes. Spreads have the appearance of a collage and sponge painting, giving the art a speckly, layered look. Tara and her mother are colored in highlighter orange. This bright color stands out more and more as the backgrounds transition from a golden sunset to a purple night. While the book’s content is about going to sleep, it is too high energy to be a good choice for a bedtime story.

Easy to follow, even at a distance, with the interactive elements, that makes it an excellent choice for preschool storytime.