Tiger vs. Nightmare, by Emily Tetri, (Nov. 2018, First Second), $17.99, ISBN: 9781626725355
Ages 7-11
Tiger’s got a monster who lives under her bed! But it’s okay – this monster is her best friend. She shares her food with Monster, and they plays games and hang out together every night until it’s time for lights out. While Tiger sleeps, Monster scares her nightmares away. But a big nightmare is waiting in the dark, and Monster can’t fight this one alone – Monster is pretty scared, too. It’s up to the friends to work together to get rid of this nightmare for good.
Tiger vs. Nightmare is an adorable intermediate/early middle grade graphic novel about friends, bedtimes, and scaring away those big, bad nightmares. The Nightmare is spooky, but not so scary that it will give little readers nightmares. I read it with my 6-year-old, and he was fine. Honest. There are positive messages about teamwork, trial and error, facing fears, and friendship. The watercolor and pencil artwork adds a dreamy feel to the story, and the color schemes run cool blue for nightmares, warm colors for the dawn. Monster is blue, linking to the world of nightmares, but as Monster also offers support and comfort to Tiger; I think of blue as more of a bridge between the dreaming and awake worlds.
Tiger vs. Nightmare has a starred review from Kirkus.
