The Tiger Rising

The Tiger Rising

by Kate DiCamillo
The Tiger Rising

The Tiger Rising

by Kate DiCamillo

Paperback(Reissue)

$7.99 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    Qualifies for Free Shipping
    Choose Expedited Shipping at checkout for delivery by Thursday, March 21
  • PICK UP IN STORE
    Check Availability at Nearby Stores

Related collections and offers


Overview

A National Book Award finalist by Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo.

Walking through the misty Florida woods one morning, twelve-year-old Rob Horton is stunned to encounter a tiger—a real-life, very large tiger—pacing back and forth in a cage. What’s more, on the same extraordinary day, he meets Sistine Bailey, a girl who shows her feelings as readily as Rob hides his. As they learn to trust each other, and ultimately, to be friends, Rob and Sistine prove that some things—like memories, and heartache, and tigers—can’t be locked up forever. Featuring a cover illustration by Stephen Walton.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780763680879
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Publication date: 12/08/2015
Edition description: Reissue
Pages: 144
Sales rank: 15,085
Product dimensions: 5.10(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile: 590L (what's this?)
Age Range: 10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Kate DiCamillo says of THE TIGER RISING, "Rob Horton first showed up in a short story I was writing. I finished the story, but apparently Rob wasn’t finished with me. He hung around for weeks afterward, haunting the other stories I was working on. Finally, I said to him, ‘What in the world do you want?’ And he said, ‘I know where there’s a tiger.’ Like Sistine, I said one word back to him, ‘Where?’ THE TIGER RISING is how Rob Horton answered me."

Hometown:

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Date of Birth:

March 25, 1964

Place of Birth:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Education:

B.A. in English, University of Florida at Gainesville, 1987

Read an Excerpt

That morning, after he discovered the tiger, Rob went and stood under the Kentucky Star Motel sign and waited for the school bus just like it was any other day. The Kentucky Star sign was composed of a yellow neon star that rose and fell over a piece of blue neon in the shape of the state of Kentucky. Rob liked the sign; he harbored a dim but abiding notion that it would bring him good luck.
(Continues…)



Excerpted from "The Tiger Rising"
by .
Copyright © 2015 Kate DiCamillo.
Excerpted by permission of Candlewick Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Interviews

An Interview with Kate DiCamillo

Kate DiCamillo's debut children's book, Because of Winn-Dixie, put her on the map, garnering a Newbery Honor award and vast public and critical acclaim. Jamie Levine of Barnes & Noble.com recently spoke to DiCamillo about her newfound success, her subsequent book, The Tiger Rising, and more.

Barnes & Noble.com: Congratulations on winning the Newbery Honor for Because of Winn-Dixie! Where were you when you heard the news? What was your reaction?

Kate DiCamillo: The Newbery Committee called me at 7am, and I had been up for a while, anyhow. As you know, there was a lot of buzz about the book, so at this point I'd started believing that it was a possibility that I might win something. For a long time I was able to go, "Oh, that's impossible," but the more people talked about it, the more I thought, What if? So, the night before was kind of like Christmas Eve when you're a kid. I kept on waking up and going, "I can't believe it's only 2 o'clock!" Finally, I got up and took a shower and I was writing when they called, because I figured I needed to just go ahead and do what I'd do on a normal day. And after I talked to them, I sat and stared at the wall for a while, and then some friends came over, and I ended up weeping on the kitchen floor. It's just been incredible and overwhelming. It's one of the biggest things that can happen in kids books. Now, each morning, I wake up and I think about it, and I think, Okay, I'm used to the idea now, but I'm really not. It's such a huge thing. When I was a kid, I knew to look for that medal on books. To think that my book will have that on its cover, and some kid will pick it up because of that, is just amazing. I can't get over it.

B&N.com: Does having won a Newbery Honor make it harder or easier for you to write now? I mean, is there more pressure -- or do you have more confidence?

KD: The pressure has been there ever since Winn-Dixie started getting reviewed. For a long time, I wrote thinking that it doesn't matter what I write because I probably won't get published. But as soon as the good reviews started coming in for Winn-Dixie and people started responding to it so much, then I had all these other things perched on my shoulder: What will my editor say? What will the critics say? Will the public like it? Before, none of those demons were there. So, everything carries a price, I guess. But hopefully I'll be able to shut them up and just go ahead and do what I want to do.

B&N.com: Well, personally, I loved your following book, The Tiger Rising. How did you come up with the idea?

KD: I also write short stories for adults. I finished a short story called "Leverage," in which Rob was kind of a secondary character. Then, for weeks after, he was kind of hanging around, and I couldn't figure out what he wanted. About the same time -- it was a couple of years ago -- there was so much rain in Florida, and Mom, who lives there, was telling me how one of the cages at the zoo had flooded and the tiger had gotten loose. And those two things connected. I thought, Oh, this is what Rob is waiting for. I just knew that those two things fit, and that's where I started. And I didn't know what was going to happen. One of the biggest and best surprises that's ever happened to me since I've been writing is when the bus stopped and Sistene got on. I thought, Oh boy, here is the person that is going to take over the story. I've never dealt with such a strong character before. And she really did want the whole book for herself, so it was a constant struggle to keep her in check.

B&N.com: Since Sistene is such a strong character, do you think you may revisit her in the future?

KD: That doesn't seem as improbable to me as going back to Because of Winn-Dixie, because I get asked that question so much: "Is there going to be a sequel?" and I think writing a sequel to Winn-Dixie would be abusing those characters. They're gone. But Sistene is still very much there, so yeah, that could be a possibility. I do feel a lot of trepidation about going back. But there's so much energy to her that I could see it happening.

B&N.com: How did you get started writing children's books?

KD: For a long time I wanted to be a writer, but it wasn't until I was 29 years old that it occurred to me that if I wanted to be a writer, I was going to have to write. So I just committed to doing two pages a day, five days a week, kind of treating it like a job. And I've been doing that since 1993. I started off with adult short stories, and still write them -- I've even have had some published in smaller literary magazines. But when I moved to Minneapolis, I got a job with a book wholesaler, and I ended up on the third floor, which was the children's floor. Serendipity, I guess. As I was filling orders, I started to pick up those books and think, I remember this. I did have that same bias that so many adult readers have: Why would you read a kids book? But I reread some of the stuff I read as a kid, and then I started branching out and reading newer stuff, like Katherine Paterson and Christopher Paul Curtis, and I just sort of fell in love with the form. And so I thought, I want to try this.

B&N.com: In Because of Winn-Dixie and The Tiger Rising, the main characters are both kids coming of age without mothers. Why were you compelled to develop them that way?

KD: It's funny, I got through all the interviews for Winn-Dixie without anyone asking that question. And now that it appears twice, everyone's starting to go, "Hmmm...." My father left when I was five, and though I certainly don't think about setting out to solve some problems for myself when I write, I think that what my subconscious is doing is approaching it in a roundabout way, kind of like with a mirror image, so it's the mother who's gone. And also, in both books, the main character has it out with the father, so it's probably whatever my troubled psyche is trying to mull over.

B&N.com: Making good friends -- be it with a person or a dog -- gets your protagonists through the worst of their problems and helps them heal. Were any of your own friendships inspiration for this?

KD: Absolutely! I've never been without a best friend. They've always been very wonderful, important relationships for me, even when I was a kid. And I don't think adults always realize how much friends mean to kids. They think it's just a casual undertaking. But you're friends with someone for a reason. My friends have been a saving grace in my life.

B&N.com: Can you name a few of your favorite children's books?

KD: I have so many. One of the pivotal books for me when I started reading kids books as an adult was Christopher Paul Curtis's The Watsons Go to Birmingham -- 1963. When I read that, I could feel the door swinging open in my mind, because it was done so well. That was a laugh-out-loud funny book that dealt with serious issues, and I thought, Wow, this is what you can do with kids books. I love Karen Hesse. Love Katherine Paterson. Same thing there when I read The Bridge to Terabithia. There are so many books for kids that I've learned from. It's not only that they're moving me deeply, but they're pointing the way.

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews