When you see the cover of this book do you immediately think of the famous poem - that's good because the words of the poem are sure to resonate as you are reading this riveting novel by SF Said.
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies.
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat.
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp.
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears
And water'd heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
There is the most amazing dystopian world in this story. It feels like we are in London but this is a divided city. Rich people separated from poor. Migrants separated from - well I am not sure what to call the people who claim they have always lived in this city - especially since Adam was born in the city and so was his friend Zadie but they do not have the same rights as others because their families come from the "Middle East". Think about those words - the "Middle East". What does that mean? Adam is Muslim and Zadie has dark skin but why should that matter? Yet every day, as he does deliveries for his parents of garments from their shop in the ghetto, he has to stop at a check point and answer questions by a soldier.
"The soldier was a guardsman in a red coat, with a bristling white moustache. He looked Adam up and down, taking in his skin, his hair, his eyes. The fact that everything about him was just a little different, just a little darker. ... 'And where are you from, boy?"
Love Reading for Kids explains the setting: In this alternate universe slavery was never abolished, which has left the UK in a sorry state with rich overlords ruling over a sprawling poor and people with origins anywhere apart from the UK particularly vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. That includes Adam’s family of shopkeepers.
When Ben crosses to the other side of the checkpoint. He bumps into a man who leads him to a remote area intending to rob him but then a huge creature appears. It is the Tyger.
Here is a text extract from Chapter two - you could use this in a book talk with your students:
An animal! A gigantic animal stood by his side, growling at the man with the knife. With one huge stride, she put herself between him and Adam. Then she threw back her head and roared, as if protecting Adam from the knife. The man screamed. He ran. He fled through the door he’d come in by and was gone. Adam couldn’t run. The animal still stood between him and the door. He could only stand there, staring at her, his senses filling with a sweet, high, musky scent, like honeysuckle growing wild. In her presence, everything else just melted away, even his fear. His skin was prickling and his eyes were wide. But inside him was a feeling stranger than fear. For this animal had come down from the darkness to defend him. Why?
And . . . what was she?
A flash of lightning revealed more of her form. She was ten feet long from her whiskers to her tail. So broad, she filled the doorway. Her fur was fiery gold with coal-black stripes. Time seemed to stop as she turned to look at Adam, and Adam looked back at her. He couldn’t look away. He’d never been so close to any animal before, let alone one so huge and wild. Her eyes burned like liquid golden fire. They were shining with a light that was different to any light he’d ever seen. Yet he thought he saw pain inside them, too. And now that she was facing him, he could see that she was wounded. There was blood on her fur, between her stripes, dripping wet and red. He breathed in sharply. Whatever she was – this animal was wounded. She shuddered as a blast of thunder shook the building. She turned and snapped at something over her shoulder, then growled when she couldn’t reach it. As she twisted and turned, Adam crept round to one side – and froze as he saw the shaft of an arrow, sticking out of her shoulder. On the other side, he could see the arrowhead.
I don't normally quote endorsements but these all ring so true for Tyger:
- 'An out-and-out-masterpiece' Piers Torday
- 'Next level excellent . . . This book is a gem' Malorie Blackman
- 'A masterpiece' Frank Cottrell-Boyce
- 'Profound . . . A triumph' Jacqueline Wilson
- 'Perfection' Sophie Anderson
- 'Beautiful, brilliant, perfect!' Peter Bunzl
- 'A timeless classic' Sita Brahmachari
- 'Visionary & exciting & hopeful & deeply-dreamt & truly-lived' AF Harrold
- 'A glorious triumph' Berlie Doherty
This book has been on my to read list for a long time (since October 2022) but I needed to wait for the paperback edition to arrive here in Australia. I need a word to describe a book so wonderful that I read it in almost one sitting. So wonderful that I read it at 2am. So wonderful that I wish I could immediately pass this onto a reader aged 11+.
Here is a video with SF Said. Please read this interview where SF Said talks about his book - here is a quote that resonated with me:
There are times I feel extremely doomy and apocalyptic. But there are times I’m extraordinarily moved and inspired to see the work that people are doing to build a better world. And that starts, for me, with children and the books they read, and the stories that fill their imaginations – the work I see teachers, librarians, booksellers, reading helpers, journalists, readers of all sorts, doing – there’s a lot of people working very, very hard, every single day, to inspire kids to love reading and books, and to get them the best possible books, the widest range, the most diverse, inclusive kinds of books, so that every child could see themselves reflected, so that every child can feel they could be a reader.
SF Said is the author of Varjak Paw - another book I adored. My blog post from 2009 is way too brief. Sometime soon I reread the two Varjak Paw books and pen a longer blog post.
No comments:
Post a Comment