Mr. Tiger, Betsy, and the Blue Moon

by Sally Gardner, Nick Maland (Illustrator)

Overview

Award-winning author Sally Gardner delivers a whimsical tale about the daughter of a mermaid and an ice cream maker, a mysterious talking tiger, and a challenge as big as the moon.

From a magical world of well-dressed animals, talking toads, and bossy princesses comes a timeless story about Mr. Tiger and his troupe of acrobats, and Betsy K. Glory, the daughter of a mermaid and an ice cream maker. Together they must figure out how to turn the moon blue, appease a grumpy giant, and make the best-tasting and rarest ice cream in the world—Gongalong Berry Ice Cream. Told with beautiful one-color illustrations throughout, this modern fairy tale teaches us that happiness is sometimes big enough to solve even the toughest problems.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593095164
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	04/07/2020
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	1,074,506
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.00(d)
Lexile:	740L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Sally Gardner is the Printz Honor author of Maggot Moon, as well as a Costa and Carnegie-winning author. Her books have been sold in many languages throughout the world.

Nick Maland is an award-winning artist, who has illustrated numerous picture books.

Editorial Reviews

04/10/2020

Gr 3–5—With a mother who is a mermaid and a father who makes and sells ice cream for a living, Betsy lives a life of wishes, magic, and adventure. When Mr. Tiger comes to town with his troupe of tiny acrobats, he enlists the help of Betsy and her parents with a particularly adventurous mission: to turn the moon blue in order to harvest the Gongalong berries that make wishes come true for anyone who eats them. Descriptive phrasing, fun word choices, giants, toads, and ice cream make this story an entertaining read. This title is printed in blue Dyslexie typeface (a printed alphabet design with heavier bottoms, slightly different shapes, and longer sticks, according to dyslexiefont.com) to improve readability for those with dyslexia. With detailed crosshatching, Maland's cheerful and copious illustrations offer an enchanting complement to the story. VERDICT This novel and its beautiful illustrations have many fairy-tale elements woven together in a fresh way, creating a story that is at once familiar and unique.—Lindsay Persohn, University of South Florida, Tampa

School Library Journal

2019-12-18
A fantasy series opener from the author of Carnegie Medal winner Maggot Moon (2013).

Betsy K. Glory lives on a small island with her ice-cream-making dad, who owns a cafe; her ocean-dwelling mermaid mum pays them weekly visits. When Betsy and Mr. Glory deliver his latest concoction to an ice-cream-fancying toad, the amphibian reveals that she is Princess Albee, self-exiled from her home on Gongalong Island after her giantess half sister, Princess Olaf, made a wish that turned her into a toad, a wish Albee is unable to overturn. While confirming Mum's assertion that Gongalong Island's berries, when made into ice cream, grant wishes, Albee says they must be picked during a blue moon. Sadly, no one knows how to turn the moon blue. Worse, Princess Olaf has fenced off most of their island for her own use, making it nearly impossible for the remaining resident Gongalongs (tiny humanoids) to escape. When Mr. Tiger and his oceangoing circus, which features Gongalong acrobats, arrive on Betsy's island, he hatches a plan to free the Gongalongs and Princess Albee. With an elaborately silly plot and flimsy characterization, the story feels rudderless; it lacks thematic heft. A few moments sparkle, though, and the abundant, imaginative illustrations (executed in blue, to match the blue type) provide continuity and quirky charm. Human and human(oid) characters default to white.

Should please Anglophiles fond of cozy, English cultural references and nonstop whimsy. (Fantasy. 6-9)

Kirkus Reviews