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This forum is the home of Mumsnet classic threads.

Mumsnet classics

the tiger who came to tea

154 replies

codswallop · 12/07/2004 21:52

evry time I read htat i wonder

has ht emother tripped out and gone mad?
is she too idle to cook?
is she an old alcy who dramnk all the beer herself?
Is it a total fabrication to justify going out for tea?

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katierocket · 13/07/2004 17:24

issymum that is so true, it's like it's in your memory somewhere but you don't realise. when i first read it to DS he was mesmorised, it's such a clever book, she's a brilliant author.

marthamoo · 13/07/2004 17:30

And Sophie is so impeccably polite too! My children would be yelling "don't eat all the cakes you greedy tiger!" - Sophie barely bats an eyelid.

marthamoo · 13/07/2004 17:33

I love it when they go out for tea - how does it go (can't be bothered to go upstairs and get it) "and all the shop windows were lit and all the cars had their lights on" (something like that). It conjures up perfectly that excitement at going out after dark you feel when you are a young child - how different everything looks. And how lovely that they have sausages and chips and ice-cream - these days they would go to McDonald's and have a Happy Meal!

Is it just the best picture book ever?

katierocket · 13/07/2004 17:39

mathamoo - my ds would have all the "buns" crammed in his mouth before the tiger had time to blink.

Zoe · 13/07/2004 22:34

Marthamoo - LOL at your reason for the story - have just read it out to DH! Brilliant!

Love this story, took ds to a Little Chef on Tuesday and he had (veggie) sausages and chips and ice cream because Sophie does - closest we could get to a cafe!

sensiblemarthamoo · 13/07/2004 23:13

I just read it to ds2 (for the first time) and he loved it! I'd forgotten that Daddy is a bit of a Hep Cat too with his drainpipe trousers and red socks.

Mummy is definitely a MNer - that page where she stands there and there are empty packets and tins all over the floor...and she has an "OMG...what shall I do?" expression on her face? You just KNOW she's going straight off to log onto MN and ask for advice!

Issymum - you are so right about his square tongue, I had never noticed!

Tommy · 13/07/2004 23:42

I'd nearly forgotten about this great book! You've reminded me - thanks! I'll dash off and find a copy for DS1 - he'll love it

ladywallopofcod · 16/09/2004 12:17

I think its all about class war now
they are the bourgeousie dn the tiger is the proletariat who has a revolution from within and takes over the means of production ( ie the tap
daddy beer etc.)

bundle · 16/09/2004 12:33

isn't it about nazi germany?

Marina · 16/09/2004 12:38

You mean as in "When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit" bundle? Didn't she write this too, or am I imagining that?

ladywallopofcod · 16/09/2004 13:17

yes she did but not he tiger is fro younger kids
cant believ tyou havent go it!

bundle · 16/09/2004 13:19

marina, she did write that too, but my fil (children's book critic) tells me that tiger is also an allegory about her family's experiences in the war.

ladywallopofcod · 16/09/2004 13:19

really?
I read an article about her life recently int he TImes
awful
mother was rather unhinged

suzywong · 16/09/2004 13:21

blatant hijack although I did post on this thread back in July
Bundle how was the show last night? I read a review in the online guardian, they said it had been turned in to a feminist vehicle for Marian?

bundle · 16/09/2004 13:22

this is from when she was on desert island discs:

Judith Kerr escaped with her family on the day the Nazis were elected ? the following day, police turned up at the doorstep in a belated attempt confiscate their passports. The Kerr family moved across Europe ? trying to support themselves and escape from the nearing threat ? until they eventually settled in England in 1936. The family stayed in London throughout the war ? surviving the Blitz and in fear of invasion. Judith Kerr wrote an autobiographical trilogy about her experiences and the books ? in particular When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit have been used ever since as a way of explaining to children the horrors of the Nazi threat ? today they are set texts in many Germany schools.

She was always a keen painter but had never thought it could be a career ? it was only when she had two children who enjoyed the tales she told that she decided to try her hand at picture books. Her first book The Tiger Who Came to Tea was instantly successful when it was published in 1968 and has never been out of print. But it is probably her series of books about Mog the cat that have won her most affection with children ? over the past thirty years they have sold more than three million copies.

(I'll ask fil more about the tiger thing - he gave us a lovely version along with a tiny china teaset and I remember him mentioning it was about germany)

bundle · 16/09/2004 13:25

suzy, sort of - marian (maria friedman) was a sort of stompy, plain older sister, determined to bop men on the nose while they were trying to get their evil way (with her or her family's money). i believe it's quite bastardised - ie probably not the Woman in White you know & love - but i thoroughlly enjoyed it. no particularly memorable toons but v recognisably lloyd webber. and an amazing michael crawford in a fat suit as bosco. there were some very irritating northern accents in it too - even more irritating when sung rather than spoken.

bundle · 16/09/2004 13:26

oh and suze - there's apparently a real killer of a review in the times...off for lunch now.

suzywong · 16/09/2004 13:30

thanks mate!

And back to The Tiger, do you think the fact that Sophie goes out in her nightie, but with duffle coat and boots is a reference to having to flee without having time to get dressed properly?

ladywallopofcod · 16/09/2004 13:32

Hmm
thinks of how it could be an allegory..
maybe the way that hitler was elected legally and they let the tiger in.... but I dont gett he end bit
i deos the food equate to teh invasion of former german territories

ladywallopofcod · 16/09/2004 13:33

or is it more personal thatt he tiger is the Gestapo adn they let htem intot heir home and hten they fleed to london
so whats with the tiger food?

suzywong · 16/09/2004 13:43

exactly what's with the very big tin of tiger food in case the tiger should come again

JanH · 16/09/2004 14:20

Nothing to do with the Tiger but there was a snippet of Judith Kerr on Woman's Hour this morning talking about some of her cats, one which was the original for Mog; another which nursed the little toy bunny before she had kittens; and a third which was dead soft, hated heights above about 3", could not hunt for toffee but loved cooked green beans and when she was given one would turn her back on it for a bit and then swing round and pounce. Very sweet!

It's at the beginning of listen to this item .

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bundle · 16/09/2004 14:27

cod, just emailed fil to find out more...

ks · 16/09/2004 14:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

ladywallopofcod · 16/09/2004 14:51

more please.
ks what s with the gnashers?

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