The tiger who came to tea

[namechangedyetagain]

I know it's a classic, but just what is it actually about? I always thought it reflected on the Nazis looking for the author's father but DH thinks I'm bonkers. So what is it then?

www.waterstones.com/book/the-teenager-who-came-to-tea/emlyn-rees/josie-lloyd/9781472121769#:~:text=The%20Teenager%20Who%20Came%20to%20Tea%20(Hardback)&text=The%20bestselling%20authors%20of%20We,firmly%20on%20their%20parents%20too.

this is a funny version

I actually saw an interview with Judith Kerr. The interviewer asked her what "The tiger who came to tea" was about and she admitted that at the time she wrote it she had a very young child and her husband was always at work. She said she was bored at home a lot of the time so imagined different people coming round.

I dunno, I just assumed the mum went along with the game because that what you do when you have an excited three year old on a flight of imagination about tigers.

And then you have to help translate when they are trying to tell daddy what they did today.

There’s a cat at the end that looks like the tiger and Me and DH joke that it’s about a mum who dropped some acid and thought a cat who came in the house was a tiger

On the serious side a lot of children's books are soaked in the stereotypes and cultural norms of their time even though they seem to be about fantastic imaginary adventures with animals, and do pass on whatever ideology is accepted at the time unconciously to young readers/ listeners.

Our values are shaped by the media and that does include children's stories and children's TV right from the very start...

It does plant some sexist ideas in children's heads if read frequently and not balannced out with real life experience or books in which female characters are more active and less submissive...

I'm not sure, but I loved the animation last Christmas.

Yes, I always read it as being that combination of boredom looking after small kids/housekeeping and making a day fun for you and the child - and needing your partner to understand that you sometimes need the day to be different. I'm very pleased JK said this was the background.

I thought it was excellent at depicting how children aren't afraid of the things that make adults terrified. The mum is quite clearly very scared of the tiger, whilst the little girl follows him around fascinated at him eating all the food and drinking all the drink. Mum knows that tiger has the capacity to kill and eat her child, and is trying to placate him by giving him everything she has, to keep her daughter safe. Daughter is just interested and enthralled.

Read tiger as poverty. Which dad saves them all from in the end.

Or...it's a tiger. Coming (uninvited, no less) and eating everything, the bloody cheek of it.

I was so glad my son hated this book.

It's so annoying. And pointless.

User - I thought it was really the cat, too, and Sophie embellished in her imagination!

I too get really frustrated that the mummy is so stupid she needs daddy to come and save the day with his genius cafe idea. And I always change it to “we’ve nothing for OUR supper” (it’s not all about bloody daddy).

The idea that everything has some deep meaning was what put me off English lit in the end.

I had to study some literary criticism theory at university because the 'literary turn' had an impact on the study of history, notions of 'truth'. There were some interesting and useful ideas but it did get a a bit wacky at the extreme end!

@SusieFlo same!!!

I hate it, Dd loves it.

We now read it to her going

And daddy came home and mummy told him what had happened and daddy said, are you drunk???

Is the tiger the new curtains in English literature?

BreastedBoobilyToTheStairs your English literature teacher should have told you that many theorists argue that it doesn't matter what the author meant, and the curtains might represent depression even though the author says they don't.

Or we don't always say what we mean, and other neo freudian comments.

I also think the cat we see them pass in the dark street that issue tical to the tiger, was the trigger for Sophie’s daydream.

I thing it’s a very reassuring book all round because a scary creature isn’t scary, and nobody gets angry when things go awry.

It’s also transgressive because she gets to go to a café after dark in her nightie, but it’s safe because she’s with her mummy and daddy.
I love everyone’s wardrobe; the ladies in hats in the café (accurate well into the 70s); and the bathroom decor.

I always think it's about a mum who couldn't be arsed to cook dinner, or to bath Sophie. So she had a large gin and created an excellent excuse why they had to go out to a restaurant.

That's my kind of parenting!

This was my favourite book as a child, and I always buy it and the soft toy, for small ones. DP bought me a card game (ages 3+) for Christmas where you match up the pictures. The illustrations are so lovely.

Oh get lost OP (jocular) - sometimes a story is just a story. Don't ruin it for me - I love it!

Did you see this on a recent edition of 10/10 Cats Do Countdown? (From about 9:20)

And don't be telling me that Peepo ( Janet & Allan Ahlberg) is really about German U Boats in WW2!

I was told Mum and Sophie are victims of domestic abuse. They wouldn't know whether nice Dad or abusive Dad (the tiger) would be coming (home from work) to tea that day.

It’s a sweet story and beautifully illustrated but I’ve never really understood it either

'Sophie's mum's day off' is how i interpreted it.

I always believed it was about the nazi’s who just came and took everything. I would be really happy to believe that isn’t the case though, I love this book