The Tiger-Skin Rug & The Tiger Who Came To Tea

I happened across this book in the library and was so pleased, I think it’s just lovely. Beautiful illustrations and a funny sweet story of a ragamuffin becoming a hero who is then accepted into family life. I’ve read it to Erbie two nights in a row and he asked for it “again mummy” this evening falling asleep during the second reading.

The Tiger-Skin Rug was written and illustrated by Gerald Rose, originally published by Faber & Faber in 1979, the copy I have from the library was republished by Bloomsbury in 2011.

The Tiger Skin Rug © Bloomsbury Publishing

In 1960 Gerald Rose won the Kate Greenaway medal for illustrating for Old Winkle and the Seagulls a collaboration between him and his wife, sadly now out of print, I’d love to get my hands on a copy - (come on please republish). Gerald Rose was born in Hong Kong in 1935, during WW2 he and his family were interned which was where he saw his first real tiger.

Old Winkle and the Seagulls by Elizabeth & Gerald Rose

While I’m on the subject of lovely books and with tigers on the mind I can’t help but mention The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr which, if you have a preschooler and have been into a children’s bookshop or library you cannot have missed. First published in 1968 it has become an absolute classic and rightly so. The author, Judith Kerr used to tell the story to her own children, it was only when they were older she wrote it down and illustrated it. 

The eponymous tiger comes a knocking and consumes everything that Sophie and her mummy have to offer. We especially like reading about the tiger having, ‘drunk all of daddy’s beer’.

The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr © Harper Collins

In the end daddy comes to the rescue by taking mummy and Sophie for a lovely tea of sausage and chips in a cafe. Then the next day Sophie and her mummy go shopping to replace all of the food and buy a large tin of tiger food in case he ever visits again.