The Tiger Who Would Be King

Gr 3 Up—Thurber's fable of the tiger who decided to overthrow the lion and become king of the beasts might remind people of some of the world's contemporary chaos. A massive battle erupts as the animals take sides in the attempted overthrow. Some of the animals did not know which side they were fighting for, and some "fought whoever was nearest, and some fought for the sake of fighting." "'What are we fighting for?' someone asked the aardvark. 'The old order,' said the aardvark. 'What are we dying for?' someone asked the zebra. 'The new order,' said the zebra." Yoon's strong color scheme of orange, green, black, and cream features crudely formed animals boldly filling black and sometimes cream pages. Oddly shaped palm-style trees and fields of grass spread across a few scenes, but masses of animals predominate with the heart of the horrendous battle spread profusely over a long double foldout view. This dark tale ends with all the animals dead "except the tiger, and his days were numbered and his time ticking away." As is customary in fables, there's a moral: "You can't very well be king of the beasts if there aren't any."