The Year of the Tiger: Tales from the Chinese Zodiac

The Year of the Tiger is the 5th book in the series Tales from the Chinese Zodiac by Oliver Chin.  Asianmommy.com received a PDF version of this book for free.

2010 is the year of the Tiger.  According to the Chinese Zodiac, Tigers are bold, proud, courageous, and charismatic.  They can be unpredictable and secretive, but they make the fiercest of friends.

In this story, Teddy the tiger is born & raised in the jungle.  He is warned to stay away from humans, but his curiosity leads him to go to the village and spy on a little girl named Su.  Su is frightened at first, but she and Teddy soon become friends.  One day, Su follows Teddy into the forest, accidentally steps on a snake, and falls over a ledge.  Can Teddy save his friend?

What I liked:  I enjoyed how the story introduces the reader to the Chinese Zodiac and the characteristics of the Tiger.  The illustrations by Justin Roth truly bring life to the characters.  My kids really enjoyed this story.

What could be improved:  Again, I would have liked if the publishers had included Pinyin with the Chinese characters for the Zodiac animals, so that we could practice learning a bit of Chinese.