Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Children's books

Join in for children's book recommendations.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

The Tiger that Came to Tea - can someone explain this book to me please?

58 replies

gaelicsheep · 26/02/2011 23:36

I am ashamed to say that I do not understand this book. Is there a point to it, or is it as random as it seems?

And are there any children's books that you just don't "get"?

OP posts:

TheSecondComing · 28/02/2011 23:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

mollymawk · 01/03/2011 00:01

LOL at The Tiger Who Went To Mass. "The priest offered the tiger a sip of communion wine. But he didn't take just one sip. He drank all the wine in the chalice."

Actually I love this book. Judith Kerr gave an interview once, saying it was just about a tiger.

But I agree with you spidookly about the caterpillar. I wince at the waste as well, as he seems to eat only one bite from everything and then leaves the rest. He would never have got any more pears from me unless he had eaten all of the first one.

belledechocchipcookie · 01/03/2011 00:02

That tiger would have been shit faced!

mollymawk · 01/03/2011 00:07

And as a child I hated Sophie's tights. They looked itchy. However, now I think they're really cool.

GypsyMoth · 01/03/2011 00:07

Which books have you had published Belle??

Longstocking2 · 01/03/2011 00:07

Great book, doesn't need to make sense altho some see it as a parable about nazi occupation as the writer escaped from Germany as Hitler rose to power. Her father was a famous anti nazi broadcaster and only just escaped from the gestapo.

lovenamechange100 · 01/03/2011 00:13

I loved this book, you know when you had to write stories at school, well I recounted this story in what must be year 4 and my teacher never said anything! So yes great even more great affection for it, I have read it DS(5) and he couldnt understand why the food ran out

Longstocking2 · 01/03/2011 00:15

spidookly what might he DO at the playgroup that naughty tiger?
Would he eat some of the parents or children?

Valpollicella · 01/03/2011 00:15

I heard a theory it was all about a cocklodging husband

belledechocchipcookie · 01/03/2011 00:16

I have 4 (3 picture book texts and a novel for 9+ years) with a publisher. I was asked to rewrite them so I have to wait to see if she thinks they are good enough to publish. I'm quite lucky really, some writers wait years for a publisher, I only started to write professionally in September. You never really realise how much work goes into a book until you write one though. I'd love to say I make up any old shit and it gets published but it's really not the case.

SingingSands · 01/03/2011 00:20

The daddy looks like a partner at my law firm, I do keep meaning to mention it to him!

lovenamechange100 · 01/03/2011 00:27

Oh F**K just not sure what my lst post says about me or my DS but we are not cocklodgers (whatever they are) - im pretty straight in bed actually and its far too early too say abot DS!

lovenamechange100 · 01/03/2011 00:29

Actually thinking about it In dont like how the 'daddy' took them to restautant at end, I mean that would be me i wouldnt wait for DH - I have my cards FFS! - i this what the cock thing is I dont get it why is there a cock thing to it?

GypsyMoth · 01/03/2011 00:54

Good luck belle!!

LoisSanger · 01/03/2011 07:24

Judith Kerr's still alive isn't she? Maybe we could have her on Mumsnet and find out the true story of the Tiger who came to Tea?

Longstocking2 · 01/03/2011 09:21

she wrote a brilliant memoir called 'when hitler stole pink rabbit' which I really enjoyed, very revealing.

weegiemum · 01/03/2011 09:24

On one of the threads about it I wrote a version of it called "The Sctuary Who Came To Tea" but I can't find it!

DH pointed out recently that the only hting the Tiger didn't consume was Mummy's hidden bottle of Gin under the sink!

fruitstick · 01/03/2011 09:31

There are lots of interpretations. If you google them you will find endless ones. Nazism, Communism, Feminism, any amount of isms.

Or it's a nice story about a tiger.

I find it typical that Daddy comes home and throws money and junk food at the problem.

Personally, o always interpreted it as being about Depression. That it's an unwelcome visitor that turns everything upside down. And the Ginger cat is just that problems seem much smaller when you step outside them.

But it's probably just a tiger.

I live the old ladies in the cafe almost as much as I love mummy's coat.

I have a friend called Sophie who wears very loud tights so DS thinks it's about her :)

spidookly · 01/03/2011 13:57

belle

I wasn't saying that all children's books are rubbish with non-stories masked by pictures, just that some are.

"Do you seriously think that publishers would pay to print childrens books if this was the case?"

Do I think that publishers would pay to print shit books and still hope that people would buy them?

Um, yes, I have actually been in a book shop before. Do you think everything that gets printed is good?

molly

"The priest offered the tiger a sip of communion wine. But he didn't take just one sip. He drank all the wine in the chalice."

Love it :o

mamsnet · 01/03/2011 14:01

God.. Do people really read this much into children's books??? The only thought to cross my mind is that it's tremendously outdated..

Housemum · 01/03/2011 14:25

I love the book because it is so old fashioned - it's as old as me, vintage 1968! I look at the pics and it is my childhood, eve the idea of the fish & chips cafe which would have been an absolute treat.

And the cafe visit was possibly not as odd an idea to the author - no idea how old she is, but i read an article recently that said that the 1950's was the period when eating out was at its most popular - to do with rationing, and subsidised restaurants - so I imagine that eating out was probably still fairly normal in the 60's.

MrsJamin · 03/03/2011 20:31

DS and I like this as it's beautifully simple to understand when you're tired, and just about the best treat ever is to go to a cafe. Is it weird that I have never noticed the ginger cat?!

sethstarkaddersmackerel · 03/03/2011 20:37

rofl @Spidookly 'If it had been written more recently there'd be a whole series of them' - so true!

BertieBotts · 03/03/2011 20:38

Longstocking I loved When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. Wasn't it fiction but heavily influenced by events of her childhood? :(

The sequels are great too but there is nothing like the first one. I think I borrowed it from every library I came across several times until I finally bought a copy.

Figgyrolls · 03/03/2011 20:38

The Ginger Cat is superb! I thought she wrote it for her girls after going to the zoo and seeing a tiger. In the stage production there is an "insinuation" that Sophie's uncle sends her a toy tiger for her birthday........

So confusing. However dd is still awaiting the tiger to come and eat everything in the house - she gets quite over excited about it, I can repeat the book verbatim without said book and expect will have to do it with ds too (sigh)

Flip

1 2 3