Elsie is sent to stay with her Uncle John. Her mother is busy with work. In one of her uncle's upstairs rooms she sees a huge tiger skin rug.
"Did that tiger come from India?' Elsie's mother had told her that John had lived in India when he was a boy, when the country was still ruled by the British ... He nodded. 'It did, yes.' Elsie thought of the tiger's roaring mouth. It was meant to be frightening, yet it just looked strange and sad. 'Why do you keep it in that room?"
"I have to keep it because I was the one who killed it,' he said at last. 'I shot it when I was twelve years old.' Elsie stared at him. 'It was the worst thing I ever did,' Uncle John said."
Can events of the past be changed? Elsie wanders into Uncle Johns garden late at night and finds herself transported to India. The year is 1946. The tiger has not yet been killed.
There are a couple of problems with having a character go back in time. Altering history for one event, such as the hunting of the tiger, surely will have ramifications for other future events. And there is the problem of bringing the character back to the present.
Both of these issues are handled really well by Tania Unsworth. I recommend The Time Traveller and the Tiger for readers aged 10+. I especially enjoyed the way the relationship between John and Elsie grows and changes; the chapters told from the point of view of the tiger; and the vivid jungle scenes.
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