"One of the new tiger cubs has escaped from the reserve!"When a tiger cub escapes from a nature reserve near Neel's island village, the rangers and villagers hurry to find her before the cub's anxious mother follows suit and endangers them all. Mr. Gupta, a rich newcomer to the island, is also searching--he wants to sell the cub's body parts on the black market. Neel and his sister, Rupa, resolve to find the cub first and bring her back to the reserve where she belongs.
The hunt for the cub interrupts Neel's preparations for an exam to win a prestigious scholarship at a boarding school far from home. Neel doesn't mind--he dreads the exam and would rather stay on his beloved island in the Sunderbans of West Bengal with his family and friends.
But through his encounter with the cub, Neil learns that sometimes you have to take risks to preserve what you love. And sometimes you have to sacrifice the present for the chance to improve the future.
Awards & Honors Notable Books for a Global Society
NCTE Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction (Honorable Mention)
CBC-NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People
A Junior Library Guild Selection
CCBC Choices
2017 North Dakota Library Association Flicker Tale Children's Book Award nominee, intermediate fiction
2016 South Asia Book Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature
MITALI PERKINS is the author of
Rickshaw Girl (a NYPL Top 100 Book),
Tiger Boy (a Junior Library Guild selection), and
You Bring the Distant Near (longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature), which are available on audio from Listening Library. Mitali was born in Kolkata, India, and has lived in Bangladesh, India, England, Thailand, Mexico, Cameroon, and Ghana. She currently resides in San Francisco, where she is a lecturer at Saint Mary's College of California. mitaliperkins.com
