by Moe Zilla

Created on: March 07, 2010

"Jack and his tiger, Lily, lived in an apartment building at #33 River Street," the book begins. It's an unlikely premise that signals fun adventures to come - but my favorite part of this book is actually its illustrations. The tiger is drawn realistically, and so are the buildings in the neighborhood. So whatever Diane Goode describes, she can also show with a startling and funny picture!

For example, she writes "Everything that Jack did, Lily did." But she illustrates this by drawing Jack and the tiger taking a bath together, with both creatures raising their right arm at the same time to wash their underarms with a sponge. When Jack takes a walk through New York City, the tiger accompanies him with an enthusiastic smile. And when Jack dives off the dock into the ocean, the tiger leaps in after him!

Eventually the book finds its way to a funny dilemma, but not until its pictures have already established an even more important point: it'd be fun to have a pet tiger. It's got yellow eyes, black stripes, and big orange furry paws. In one drawing, the tiger is even taking a turn as the pitcher on the neighborhood's baseball team. Unfortunately, the tiger is not appreciated by Jack's grumpy new neighbor, Mr. Mud.

I probably should've guessed how this story was going to end. A thief breaks into Mr. Mud's apartment, and steals everything that he owns. "Just as he was making his escape, Lily came running to the rescue." And of course, the tiger even rescues Mr. Mud's precious dog, Fifi. The police arrest the burglar, as the whole neighborhood cheers for the tiger. The tiger earns a front-page story in the newspaper, while Mr. Mud begs her to continue living next door. And the book's last drawing even shows Fifi sleeping with Jack and Lily, in a friendly neighborhood sleep-over.

If there's a complaint about the story, it's that it's too short. (It's just 14 pages long, and many pages don't even include an entire sentence.) But the real attraction of this story is its lifelike depictions of a neighborhood's local tiger, since the pictures set a playful tone for the book, making it fun and exciting. Goode never explains why Jack's house pet is a fully-grown tiger, but throughout the book it remains cooperative and well-behaved. Goode even draws the tiger joining in for a game of tug-of-war - and playing happily with Jack as the swing together on the swing set!

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