Last year I gave my ten-year-old niece three books by Kate Di Camillo, and her face lit right up. This year, I got her The Tiger Rises and read it to see what was so great about Di Camillo.
Rob is an unhappy 12-year-old, used to being bullied on the bus and not allowed by his father to mention his dead mother. One day when he is exploring the woods near the motel where he lives, he finds a tiger in a cage.
The next day, he meets Sistine, a new girl in school. Sistine is angry since the breakup of her parents’ marriage. Rob takes her to see the tiger, and she immediately decides they should let it loose.
I am sure there are elements in this novel that would interest children, but it doesn’t have much to offer adults. It provides a shocking but unconvincingly easy solution to the characters’ problems. And really, what kind of a good solution is going to come from a tiger in a cage?
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What? Me Read? 
I haven’t read this one, but I’ve read a couple of her others, which I liked a lot. Maybe you’d like them better? The Miraculous Journey of Edward Toulane especially!
Possibly. I usually try kids’ books when I’m shopping for my nieces and nephews. I only have three young ones left! The others are grown or growing up.