When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller

 When You Trap a Tiger 

 

Bibliography 

Keller, Tae.  2020. When You Trap a Tiger.  New York, NY: Random House Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9781524715700. 

Plot Summary 

Lily, Sam, and their mother uproot their lives and move in with their grandmother, or halmoni in Korean to spend more time with her. They had lived there several years before after the death of their father, and the girls soon find out that they are there to make final memories with their halmoni, who has brain cancer. Lily has visions of a tiger, with whom she makes a deal to save her halmoni; she must recover the stories that Halmoni stole from the stars years ago because they were sad, and the tiger will save her halmoni.  Lily recovers the three “star jars” from Halmoni’s boxed and meets with the tiger to reveal the first two stories that are trapped inside. After a huge fight between the sisters, Lily throws the last of the jars against the wall, and after an attempt to climb the stairs their halmoni collapses and is taken to the hospital by their mother. The tiger helps Sam drive Lily to the hospital, by shielding the car from the pouring rain, and once there, Lily realizes that the tiger is Halmoni’s mother, and that saving her did not mean keeping her in her mortal body. Lily is able to let her halmoni go when she crafts the 3rd story that was in the jar that she busted, and she tells it aloud in the hospital room to her family. 

Critical Analysis 

This book is filled with tension and desperation: the tension between sisters, between mother and daughter, between Lily and the tiger, and the desperation of Lily to save her grandmother. From the first appearance of the tiger, we know that something bad is going to happen. Halmoni also gives us a peek into Korean culture, such as her use of herbal medicine, rituals like the kosa to protect from spirits, and the importance of the tiger in their culture. This book teeters between realistic fiction and fantasy; Lily and Halmoni’s visions of the tiger could be dismissed as hallucinations, but when the tiger shields Sam and Lily from the rain and Sam also sees the dry “bubble,” this adds just a tiny bit of unexplainable fantasy. 

The message of the book is that people live on through our stories. By bottling our memories/stories away because they are painful, it ends up hurting us. Sharing the stories, even though they evoke sadness, helps us remember our loved ones, just as Sam finally talking to Lily about their father helped Lily discover memories about him she never realized she had. 

Review Excerpts 

2021 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Winner 

2021 John Newberry Medal Winner 

2020 Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards Honor 

School Library Journal Starred 1/1/2020  “This deeply moving book is a must-purchase for all collections, showcasing vulnerable and mythic storytelling...” -- Molly Saunders 

Booklist Starred Review 11/1/2019 “Lily’s magical-realist world, rooted in Korean folklore, will envelop readers as she deals with growing up and—at times—apart from her sister, finding new friends, and coping with her grandmother's illness. Keller’s characters—from Halmoni, who dresses up to go grocery shopping, to Sam, who hides her own heartbreaks—will have readers wishing they were real.” 

Connections 

Those who have experienced loss of a loved one will find a strong connection with this book, and regardless of its targeted young adult audience, readers of all ages will identify with Lily’s journey.  Readers may also enjoy My Abuelita by Tony Johnston 9780152163303 or Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai ISBN 9780061962790.