genre: middle grade fantasy
Lily's move to live with her grandmother is a large upheaval for Lily, her mom and her older sister Sam. Not only does she have to find new friends and manage the emotions at home - but now she's seeing things. Well, someTHING. A big thing. A tiger. And soon knows that the Tiger needs something incredible from her - she just has to figure out how to get it.
This magical realism story of Korean folktales come to life is heavy with emotional turmoil and family drama. I liked how female-centric the relationships are, between mothers and daughters and grandmothers and sisters, everyone is learning how to have healthy interactions and it's not easy to navigate, especially when there is generational trauma and diverse cultural issues to deal with as well. There are some really tender minutes and I appreciated's Lily's arc of people-pleasing to finding-her-voice. I also think it's important that kids can read stories of loss and hope, of grief and processing. The magical realism didn't work perfectly for me - I never could just immerse myself in it but I know I'm not the intended audience, so take that for what it is.
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