Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication Date: July 3, 2012
Review:
When I was a little kid Peter Pan was my imaginary friend,
no joke, I made my parents feed him and buckle him into the car right along
with me, I insisted that Peter and I were going to be married. It was actually
because of Peter Pan that I got a sister; my parents thought I needed a friend.
So of course I am already skewed toward liking Peter Pan retellings, but even
if I didn’t have this sordid history with Peter I would have loved Tiger Lily.
The story is set in Neverland and follows Tiger Lily the Indian
Princess who, in this story, is actually the adoptive daughter of the Tribe
Shaman. Tiger Lily is a quiet loner, who is ostracized by the other kids and
has never really fit in. Usually I do not relate well to this type of character
but the narration and descriptions given by Anderson were so spot on and descriptive that
you just can’t help connecting with her.
Tiger Lily was so much deeper of a read then I thought it
was going to be. I picked this book up with the intention of having a light
read, just a happy Peter Pan retelling but what I got was so much more! The
heartache Tiger Lily goes through involving not only Peter but her Tribe made
me teary eyed. Actually half way through the book I found myself wanting to
take a break because everything was falling apart and I didn’t know how Anderson could ever make
it better. I resisted this desire though and somehow the ending was not as sad
as I had originally expected it to be.
My favorite part of this book though was definitely the
symbolism and parallels to what happened in history. Not since I read the Generation
Dead series by Daniel Waters have I seen such a great YA allegory of a historic
event as I did in Tiger Lily. **Watered Down Spoiler Warning** Tiger Lily rescues
a man from England
and eventually he is brought back to the tribe. While at the tribe he begins
telling everyone about his religion and converts the tribe. **Spoiler Over** I
liked how true to history Anderson was in her descriptions of what was going on
and how easy it was to get people to change their minds. I also like the
inclusion of the group mentality and how easily people will turn on one
another. The selective beliefs of a faith were also very interestingly
integrated. It was definitely deeper then I expected the story to go but I
loved every page of it!
Needless to say I loved this book (can I say that one more
time?). It was heartbreaking, but remained so utterly real. It was a completely
different story then Peter Pan and while at first this surprised me I was
thankful for it. I was glad to read from Tiger Lily’s perspective and in the
future I will definitely by reading other Jodi Lynn Anderson books!
YAY! I'm so glad you enjoyed this one! Tiger Lily was a book that took me completely by surprise and I was so pleasantly surprised to like it so much. Your review sums up everything regarding this book perfectly, so fantastic review! :D
ReplyDelete~Keertana
Ivy Book Bindings
I haven't read this book but your review makes it sound so interesting! And I absolutely adored your personal anecdote about Peter - I love imaginary friends. I'm intrigued to see what Peter does in this spin-off and the role of religion in the tale.
ReplyDeleteI just recently started this book, I have not gotten down and dirty with it yet though, only abouit 20 pages in. I am glad to see you liked it so much. I was a little worried but after your review I am sure I will love it. great review!
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