CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE WEEK 9/10

Tiger Skin Rug by Joan Haig, Cranachan Publishing, £6.99.

Tiger Skin Rug by Joan Haig is a magical adventure story about three children – Lal, Dilip and Jenny – who go on a big adventure to London and beyond with a flying tiger which cannot rest until it fulfils an old promise.

The story starts when Lal Patel and his little brother Dilip move to Scotland from India. They don’t like their creepy new house and all they want to do is go back to India. In the drawing room lies a tiger skin rug which, although they don’t know it yet, can transform into a real, flying tiger.

Lal and Dilip first meet new friend Jenny when they see her in her hideout in their garden. The garden used to belong to Mrs Will and although she always let Jenny play in the garden, she never let her in the house. Jenny thought she was hiding something but later discovers what she was hiding was the tiger.

The children find out the rug can turn into a tiger. One day when Dilip is in the drawing room, he sees the tiger come to life and talks to it. Dilip tells Lal and Jenny.

The tiger wants to go to London so it can find Joseph Ecks in the hope he can help it find its original owner in India. The tiger flies to London, with Lal, Dilip and Jenny on its back.

Lal, Dilip and Jenny try to find Joseph Ecks Auctioneers, but when they get there the shop looks like it has shut down. They go into a salon next door where hairdresser Angela tells them Joseph was an old friend of hers and that he died years ago.

Angela tells them Joanna Ecks, Joseph’s daughter, works in an art gallery in Peckham, and she might be able to give them answers about the tiger.

They end up going to India because Joanna tells them about one of Joseph’s friends, Menon Chatterjee, who lives in India. He is the owner of the tiger skin rug.

When they get to India, they meet a girl called Mani who gives them some warm food and helps them look for Menon Chatterjee. They find Menon at a university where he works, and they tell him everything. Lal, Dilip and Jenny go home on the back of the tiger with Menon Chatterjee and once they’re home, Menon takes the tiger back to India.

I found Tiger Skin Rug a fun and exciting book. I just wanted to keep reading it! I like how the tiger can fly and how it can turn into a rug and no one knows it’s a real tiger. I would love to read more of Joan Haig’s books and enjoy more magical adventures!