I am (possibly) over-analysing "The Tiger who came to Tea". Do you do the same with childrens' books?

DS thinks Frosties are Tiger Food

The walk after dark page always makes me well up; seems to evoke something nostalgic about the best bits of childhood that we'll never have again.

Pendulum, I've always thought that about the cat too; definitely tigerish...

Back to the tiger... I worry about him drinking straight from the tea pot on a point of safety.

And I'm bothered about saying there's no water in the taps on a point of logic.

I had tights like Sophie's.

Kathy - I have read Pink Rabbit, though a very long time ago and not nearly as thoughtfully as you have. So I had better have another look ...

I do very much like the idea of its just being about Dire Intolerable Boredom. My MIL knows JK a bit (her father & JK's brother were best mates) and that absolutely chimes with how all her set talk about being a mother of tinies in the 60s.

Anyone read Into the Forest by Anthony Browne?
You can analyse that til the cows come home. If you can bear to that is- it spooks the heck out of me!

he's a horrible boy, what's he doing in the wolf costume for starters, sent to bed for being a wee sod, then off to the land of dreams where he becomes king by being a wee sod again then back home and his wimp of a mother is bringing him dinner. it's crap.

and i don't much like the illos either, not to my taste.

Bink - have you read 'When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit'? My reading of TTWCTT is sort of in the light of that.
'When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit' has the message that though their experiences as a family were dangerous and frightening, at the time they were also exciting because her parents insulated her and her brother from the real fear. At the beginning of the book she talks about how she wanted a 'difficult childhood' because she wanted to be a famous writer and famous writers seemed to always have difficult childhoods, but at the time while she was living it she never realised this was exactly what she was having! So that is the sense in which the tiger could represent the things that happen to the family but also still be positive - all the excitement and adventures only happened because of the Nazis, even though obviously they were ultimately bad.
I agree with you absolutely about the dangerously attractive tiger....
IIRC there is a scene when they celebrate Bastille Day in Paris where she goes out in her nightie when the streetlights are lit and they go to a cafe, which TTWCTT evokes very strongly.

So that is why I think it is one of the things that fed into the book.

Of course, the fabulousness of the book is the way it can be read on so many levels

I cant see Peepo on Amazon? is it the one where the baby is in the pram on the front cover?

what's happened to Happy Families books? are they not relevant to today's family?

why do you 'HATE' wild things Aitch?

the pictures are wonderful.

"Goodnight Moon"

I fell in love with that book the first time I came to the blank "Goodnight nobody" page. It seems to make the whole world slip sideways in a dreamy, dozing-off way.

Ahh Peepo is so lovely isn't it? So evocative - it gave me a flashback to the fringe on the pram and I love the baby in the bath with the soap in the mug with all its night clothes warming on the stove - and grandma slaving away doing the ironing and earning her keep .

Now the Tiger who came to Tea is a fave too - my dd squeals at the "Daddy's home!" bit and I always feel a slight pang of guilt as if I must have done something wrong to be reinforcing this archetype of the breadwinner returning home and giving him his pipe and slippers. Only her own Daddy often has to make his own tea so hopefully that balances things up?!

I am confused as to the Tiger's motives - he seems so sly and then he's playing on his flute at the end and I can't help thinking he's got another agenda I don't quite understand. And I like how oblivious Sophie is to the absurdity of it all as she snuggles up with the Tiger's tail around her neck and is so totally in love with the fact that a Tiger has visited (well you would be wouldn't you?).

In our house, Mr Men are books that only children can read. So I am safe for at least a few years as DD is only two. I have a sort of sneaking worry that she might insist on reading them to me then but that's better than reading the sodding things myself.

Peepo also reduces me to tears but then I am an enormous wuss.

HATE where the wild things are.

I always think about Where the Wild things Are too too much

lol at mr men are only read by men. we have the same rule in our house too.

i too love peepo, couldn't agree more. the first time i read that book i cried, i found it genuinely moving.

and pmsl at the camp dad. dd1 (3) does an impression of him, loding her hat out and with her mouth hanging open, it's hilarious.

Fascinating. I always read the tiger as symbolising post-natal depression - "the tiger" goes round wrecking the joint, preventing Mother from cooking Daddy's supper, and bathing Sophie, and then poor old long-suffering Daddy has to come home and deal with the fallout ...

Though I've heard that Judith herself is having none of the analysing, too!

MrsMattie - Mr Men as the name suggests can only be read by men

It's shit. Only Thomas the Wank Engine and bloody Mr Men are worse

whatever happened to codswallop?

Beat me to the link, ybd!
And so glad it's one of the codonyms that didn't get wiped

Dh has always believed it's about the mother's adulterous affair

the big furry guy comes in and takes everything and leaves them in panic and disarray
she doesn't know what to do when she realises her mistake and how easily she gave it all away
luckily daddy comes home very magnaminous and understanding

But then my dh is weird

he also has a pathological hatred and distrust of mog

I read a brilliant interview with Judith Kerr about this

she said it was about the absolute drudgery of SAHMing with small children, where you are desperate for something, anything that's out of the ordinary to happen; where even a ring at the doorbell has infinite possibilites...

I sympathise, I must say.

very amusing thread on TWCTT

here

We've got the pop up version too - DS (2.4) loves it and I also (for some inexplicable reason) find myself reading in in a very "BBC R.P." style voice.

DS's favourite line is the bit at the cafe - often when we're eating out (or even just sitting down for tea at home) he'll say "Sisigis a cips a ay-ceem!" (Sausages & chips & Ice-Cream!) - even if we're having something far more posh

We have a pop up version of this, my dd loves it. One of my faves too when I was a child.