2021 Newbery winner, When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller. Little sister Lily is moving back to help her sick Halmoni, her Korean Grandmother, with her mother and older sister Sam. Halmoni has always told stories that seem magical, so when a tiger that seems directly out of her stories begins appearing to Lily, she knows that it has to do with her grandmother. The tiger trades in stories, saying that Halmoni stole something and if Lily returns it Halmoni could be made well. Lily finds that stories and new friends help her reconnect to her family and face the terminal illness of her grandmother.
What I liked. There was so much imagery that I loved in this book: star jars full of stories and starlight, a beautiful tiger from a fairytale, connections between grandmothers and mothers and daughters, quirky outcast kids becoming friends, sisters overcoming conflict to work together, and Korean food and folktales.
What was interesting / limitations. I don’t think this is a limitation, per se, but I think the bits of the book I found most frustrating were the parts where I could not tell if they were real or not. Not knowing if an element of a story is real or magical is basically the definition of magical realism. I don’t normally read a lot of magical realism because I generally like to know if something is actually happening or not. This is not the fault of this book. A lot of people love magical realism. People also like books with long dream sequences, murder mysteries, and unreliable narrators. I don’t. But that’s just a personal preference. I also don’t like cucumbers, gin, or anise flavored things–all things that many people I know absolutely adore. I don’t think there is a value judgement to be made on magical realism just because I think it’s confusing. Everyone has different levels of what they experience as overly tense and confusing, and what other people think is a riveting and deliciously mysterious story. A lot of people are going to love the magical realism in this book!
Also just a heads up at the end that there is a reference to Lily’s older sister having a girlfriend. It’s a fairly small part of the book, but might guide your choice, along with the general heaviness of a family member’s death, for when your child is ready for this book.
Similarity to other Newbery winners. In terms of magical realism, by which I mean a story that mostly takes place in an ordinary everyday world, but has a few things that are either magical or are perceived by the protagonists as magical (possibly only in the protagonist’s head) this book reminded me most of Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly (2018) and to a lesser degree Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo (2014). Missing May by Cynthia Rylant (1993) is also about the death of a grandmother, and Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech (1995) is about the death of a mother. Both of those books keep the magic or spiritual connections more just within the protagonists than outside of them. If I were to include more science fiction future time travel or fantasy (past time travel) as similar to magical realism, then I’d add The Grey King by Susan Cooper (1976), A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (1963), and When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (2010). Those three all contain some regular world and some fantastical one. In terms of two Asian sisters struggling to connect and overcome family illness, it is similar to Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata (2005) although those sisters are Japanese and the older one is the one with the illness. The role of the library reminded me of (not a Newbery, but still an amazing book I read recently) Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt.
What it teaches me as a writer. Most of the time I think of what a story taught me in terms of what the author did really well. And there are certainly amazing elements of fractured fairy tales and weaving folklore into a book that are done so well in this book, and I’d love to be able to weave a fairytale into a story that well. But really what I took away from this book in terms of my writing was what I hoped was about to happen a few chapters from the end. I wanted in the ending of this book a stronger, bigger story about Halmoni. I wanted a back story as amazing as Snape’s memories at the end of Harry Potter that tied everything together. I wanted the tiger to be a little clearer in who she represented. Other people I think enjoyed the room for various interpretations and letting the story be more ambiguous, but I want most things more buttoned up in my endings.
Have you read When You Trap a Tiger? What are your favorite magical realism books?
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