SuitabookThe Tiger Who Came to Tea
Judith Kerr
- Reading
- Read it aloud with contrasting voices and pauses for the repeated ‘all’ phrases. Invite predictions before opening the door, let the child notice visual details, and revisit the final cat without insisting on one meaning.
- Themes
- Welcoming the unexpected: The visit is treated as calm, polite and playful, even though the visitor is an unknown tiger and the household’s supplies are consumed. The event is presented as calm, polite and playful rather than as an explicit lesson about stranger safety.
- Family adaptability: The family treats the disruption practically: they eat at a café and later prepare for the possibility that the tiger may return. The family responds by going to a café and later buying tiger food, within a comic fantasy without a stated moral conclusion.
- Reality and make-believe: A tiger visits the family, while a tiger-striped domestic cat appears near the end. The ending supports playful uncertainty about whether the final cat connects to the extraordinary visitor.
- Worth knowing
- Some families may want to notice the unexamined welcome given to a very large stranger, the complete consumption of household supplies, and references to Daddy’s beer and supper. These details reflect the book’s dated domestic setting.