When You Trap a Tiger

(Winner of the 2021 Newbery Medal)

By: Tae Keller

Narrated by: Greta Jung

Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of the Newbery Medal

New York Times best seller

Winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Children's Literature

Would you make a deal with a magical tiger? This uplifting story brings Korean folklore to life as a girl goes on a quest to unlock the power of stories and save her grandmother.

Some stories refuse to stay bottled up....

When Lily and her family move in with her sick grandmother, a magical tiger straight out of her halmoni's Korean folktales arrives, prompting Lily to unravel a secret family history. Long, long ago, Halmoni stole something from the tigers. Now they want it back. And when one of the tigers approaches Lily with a deal - return what her grandmother stole in exchange for Halmoni's health - Lily is tempted to agree. But deals with tigers are never what they seem! With the help of her sister and her new friend Ricky, Lily must find her voice...and the courage to face a tiger.

Tae Keller, the award-winning author of The Science of Breakable Things, shares a sparkling tale about the power of stories and the magic of family. Think Walk Two Moons meets Where the Mountain Meets the Moon!

"If stories were written in the stars...this wondrous tale would be one of the brightest." (Booklist, starred review)

©2020 Tae Keller (P)2020 Listening Library

Critic reviews

"Roars to life with just a touch of magic." (Kirkus starred review)

"A heartfelt reminder of the wonder and beauty in our everyday lives." (Booklist starred review)

"Deeply moving...vulnerable and mythic storytelling in the vein of Erin Entrada Kelly and Kacen Callender." (School Library Journal starred review)

Amazing and powerful.

The Narrator brought the story to life. I could feel the breath of the tiger and was slightly frightened of her. I fell in love with her halmeoni and wanted to live in her house. Such a good story for getting to know more about the author's culture. Perfect for middle grade students.

Beautiful Story

It was a beautiful story of self recognition and courage when you trap a tiger is amazing the love the pain and the truth craft a fantastic story with both fantasy and real life
- cirque age 9

Wow what a winner, Newbery that is!

I paced my reading not wanting to leave the characters and their story. Only listened to two maybe three chapters a night. I savored all of the images and smells. Anticipating what would happen next. I almost want to start the story again but this time listen in one big bite of time. Like a movie on the screen of my mind!

Worth the read

The lesbian nod at the end is sweet, G rated and actually fits the story. Don’t let this stop you from enjoying this book.

Wow

I am a person who is not moved to tears easily. I have found myself surrounded by tears before and only tried to bring smiles or joy to the people suffering so outwardly around me with memories and hopes worth acknowledging in times of struggle and pain. This story is the first thing to make me cry in five years, when I felt the emotion, pain and duality of all these things so deeply.

It was so Bart warming

There were to many questions .I guess I could not keep track to what was going on

A wonderful story with Korean mythology

How many times did I come close to tears while listening to this book? Let me count... 1, 2, 3, ..... 37, 38, ... Okay, I can't actually put a specific number on it, but it was a lot. There was so much going on in this novel that started out as a simple story with a tiger spirit. The feelings that Lily was dealing with, both before and after she found out her grandmother was sick, and the tension that was always there between her and Sam were so realistic that I found myself tearing up or having a catch in my throat so many times.

The feelings that are evoked by Lily's simple desire to make her grandmother better, and how she deals with what happens as she tries to achieve her goal, were beautifully written. Then, to intersperse all of that with the stories that we got to hear, both from the grandmother and the tiger, were beautiful.

Because I have seen so many other reviews complain about this, I want to address the information that comes up about Sam at the end.

SPOILER: Yes, it is revealed that she is lesbian. No, it was not just "thrown in there" or "included to be politically correct." A person's sexuality doesn't have to be plot-relevant to be included. LGBTQ+ people exist, everywhere. Let them exist. And, for those who are grabbing their pearls over a MG book having a lesbian in it, children of all ages have siblings who identify as LGBTQ+; why should they not be represented in the literature, too? Sam is a teenager, so it is perfectly normal that she would be discovering who she is - and that includes her sexual identity!
END SPOILER

For this book, I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated by Greta Jung. I thought she did a wonderful job, and I really appreciated hearing someone pronounce the Korean words so that, when I pick up the book to read again, I will know how they are pronounced.

Beautiful themes!

I sincerely appreciated this story! Tae did a wonderful job presentings the struggles of a young girl with identity, loss, and female resilience. Two thumbs up!

great performance!

her reading is great. i live how she act halmoni. and all the korean words.

Outstanding!

My daughter read this book to her five children, so of course I wanted to listen to it on the audiobook version. This story took me to a magical place, and at the same time reminded me of my own Grandmother. The difficult relationship between the sisters, was relatable too. I enjoyed this story so very much & recommend it to everyone.