Ned’s dad and I are loving the Sir David Attenborough/BBC production Tiger - Spy in the Jungle. It is so wonderfully filmed using the most incredible technology of trunk cams, in which elephants are used to place cameras disguised as tree trunks in strategic positions to get the most amazingly close footage of the elusive tigers.

This documentary is intimately following the lives of four tiger cubs as they grow up with their mother in the jungle of India. They really are the most beautiful and majestic animals!

While on holidays recently we found a copy of Nick Butterworth’s Tiger in hardcover and after having watched the first episode of Spy in the Jungle we just had to have it. Ned’s dad thinks it is very cute and it has become one of his favorites. I have always loved Butterworth for his beautiful clean, crisp illustration style that has developed from his graphic design background.

The Tiger of this story is actually a kitten, called Tiger, who enjoys pretending to be the real thing with “great big tigery claws and a loud scary, tigery ROAR!” On the middle of one page we see the adorable little kitten, so soft and cute and then on the next page he transforms into a real tiger taking up the whole page with his enormity.

The text flows so nicely that this picture book makes for an excellent read aloud and toddlers can join in with the repetition “just like a real tiger“.

Tiger is a beautiful story about the joys of imagination and pretend. And as the book ends with Tiger in bed it is also a perfect bedtime story.

Nick Butterworth has also created a companion book called Tiger in the Snow.