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

[Pendulum]

I love reading this book to my DDs, but always end up thinking about it really hard. What was at the back of Judith Kerr's mind when she wrote it?

• Is it meant to be the kind of fantasy story a child of Sophie's age would make up and tell her teachers?

• Is it a parable about the excitement of a change to the everyday routine (a guest at tea-time, no bath, supper in a cafe- the latter especially exotic I guess at the time of writing)

• Or is it a tale that Sophie's Mogadon-ed up mother make up to explain to her dad why his dinner wasn't ready?

Anyone else thought about this? What other childrens' books seem to you to have hidden depths?

"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.

why do you 'HATE' wild things Aitch?

the pictures are wonderful.

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?

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

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.

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!

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.

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.

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...

DS thinks Frosties are Tiger Food