When You Trap a Tiger: A Story of Self Discovery and Korean Culture

#bookreview #whenyoutrapatiger #4stars

When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller is a story of a young and shy girl named Lily who moves with her mother and older sister into their grandmother's house. However, as her once invincible and energetic grandmother (halmoni in Korean) is being lost to an illness, Lily finds a solution—a tiger. The tiger, which only Lily can see, offers the medicine for Lily's halmoni in exchange for the three stories, specifically Korean folktales, that her halmoni hid in jars. As Lily gives the tiger the stories and the tiger tells the stories one by one, Lily learns the adventures of searching a newer identity, explores new friendships, and builds a stronger connection to her family. In the end, Lily learns to let go and become stronger, like a tiger.

It had been a while since I read a Newberry Honor book, or any young adult book. My mother used to constantly buy Newberry Honor-medaled books (or any young adult book that had some sort of medal) and I used to speed-read (binge read?) them, even evading my work to do so. However, in fifth grade, I slowly drifted away from these books as I started to approach more classical and mature books.

Yet, it was really refreshing to read another young adult book that held lots of meaning in what life in youth offered to us. Often, because I read many books dealing with societal and emotional topics, I struggle to remind myself that I am still not an adult and that my teenagers years are still ahead of me. I believe this does not apply to just myself; many young children and teenagers are in a tumultuous time of change that it is hard to find a sense of self-worth and importance. Tae Keller gave the perfect antidote for this hardship. Lily's journey in finding a firmer ground in herself gave me a sense of comfort. Especially during seventh and eighth grade, I often found myself struggling in whether I was doing the right things, whether my future was clear, and whether I had enough confidence. I found that Lily's uncertainty, although she had very different questions than mine, was similar in the fact that we were not sure about the environment around us and had to figure that out. Lily's journey, I believe, connects to many young people who read Tae Keller's book.

Additionally, I wanted to address the fact of Korean culture spread throughout the story. When seeing the different references to Korean food (snacks especially), Korean jesa, and Korean stories (like the imaginary tiger), it made me all excited and jumpy inside. It was really nice to see Korean representation in literature, especially for young adults. I have read and really enjoyed Kimchi and Calamari and many of Linda Sue Park's books. This was particularly interesting because it took a deep dive, and twist, of Korean folktales. When I was younger, I loved reading the picture books of Korean folktales, so I felt I was back reading those picture books with my mom again.

Overall, When You Catch A Tiger is a story that helps young adults feel as if they are not alone in their personal struggles and a new change in how Korean culture is portrayed in literature.