RAJ THE BOOKSTORE TIGER (Picture Book)

by Kathleen T. Pelley, illustrated by Paige Keiser

Charlesbridge, 2011

A Book Review by

Violet the Telekinetic Puppy

I’m Daffodil the Flower Shop Wolf except that I am just kidding and my name is really Violet and I am a beagle who loves to read. I am going to tell you about one of the books that I love to read and that book is called RAJ THE BOOKSTORE TIGER.

RAJ THE BOOKSTORE TIGER is about Raj and you probably think that Raj is a tiger because this book is called RAJ THE BOOKSTORE TIGER but Raj is not really a tiger. Raj is a cat who thinks he is a tiger and the reason he thinks he is a tiger is because his person calls him a tiger because he is orange and has stripes like a tiger. His person is named Felicity and she has a bookstore. Raj likes being a tiger and because he spends all day in a bookstore that is why this book is called RAJ THE BOOKSTORE TIGER.

Every day Felicity reads a story to the kids who come to the store and those kids love to see Raj and Raj loves when the kids pet him and call him a tiger. There is a man who works at the bookstore and he has a white cat named Snowball and the man starts bringing his cat Snowball to the bookstore. Snowball is cranky and not nice and Snowball says that Raj is not really a tiger and that makes Raj feel bad because Raj likes being a tiger. Raj is sad not being a tiger until Felicity reads him a poem about a tiger and that poem about a tiger makes Raj feel like a tiger again and then he is not sad any more. You might think that Raj would be mad at Snowball but you would be wrong. Raj is nice and wants Snowball to be happy and that is why he tells Snowball about white tigers. Snowball likes the idea of being a tiger and it makes him happy and then he isn’t mean and cranky and then the two tigers become friends. I am happy that Raj and Snowball are friends at the end of this story and that is why I love this book.

There is another reason that I love this book and that reason is because of the pictures. My favorite picture is the picture on the first page where Felicity is holding Raj and Raj is smiling with his eyes closed and you can tell that he is a happy tiger. My other favorite pictures are the pictures where you can see all the books that are on the shelves at the bookstore and I want to read the book that has a boy blowing a big bubble gum bubble on the cover and the book about an elephant named Bob. I like the soft colors in the pictures and when I read this book and look at the pictures I wish I could spend my days in the bookstore with Raj and Snowball.

Here is a list of who will like this book:

Readers who like cats.

Cats who like tigers.

Readers, cats, and tigers who like bubble gum.

Readers, cats, and tigers who don’t like broccoli.

Elephants.

Good-bye.