The Tiger Rising

Summary: From the best-selling author of Because of Winn-Dixie comes the moving story of an eleven-year-old-boy, Rob Horton, who finds a caged tiger in the woods behind the hotel where he lives with his father. With the help of his new friend, Sistine Bailey, Rob must decide what to do with his discovery and at the same time come to terms with his past.

This is just a little bite of a read. It only took me half an hour on the treadmill to complete. Despite its length, though, I don't feel like this is a good children's book. Scratch that - I think it's a wonderful children's book, but I don't know if kids would like it. It's very heavy emotionally and while I admire Kate DiCamillo for not avoiding serious subjects I still don't feel like this is as enjoyable or uplifting as The Tale of Despereaux (which I absolute adored). As an adult, I didn't feel like it was long enough or fleshed out enough to be really enjoyable to me and I don't think kids will love it and treasure it like DiCamillo's other books, so I guess my response to The Tiger Rising is just somewhere in the middle. Neutral. Beautifully written, but not handsome enough to tempt me. :D 

But bittersweet and emotionally deep all the same. I don't know. I guess I'm just conflicted over this one!