Published by Simon & Schuster, 2026.

I jumped at the chance to review Once Upon a Tiger as Sarah Massini has long been one of my favourite illustrators. In Once Upon a Tiger, Sarah has – for the first time – written, as well as illustrated, the story. It’s a beautiful book.

One day, a grumpy tiger wakes to find not one, not two, but three child-cubs upon his back and, try as he might, they will not climb down. So tiger and children stay together and slowly, gently come to teach one another about bravery, kindness and belonging.

I loved the book’s warm and earthy colour palette – shades of orange and green – and the movement and energy of the illustrations. The book is full of exquisite detail from the rich green of the jungle endpapers to the vibrant orange tiger stripes hiding beneath the foiled dust jacket.

This is a story that challenges preconceptions because our tiger is timid and easily scared. Yet he learns to be brave and do difficult things for the children he has grown to love.

Massini has given us a real sense of place in her two contrasting settings – jungle and city. Both are alive with sounds and sights and the busy everyday comings and goings of animals and people.

This is a treat of a book, rich with empathy and kindness.

Rating: 💙💙💙💙💙

Suitable for children aged 3+

Behind the Book with Sarah Massini

A huge thank you to Sarah for this exclusive “look behind the book”.

This was the very first spread I illustrated, and it was one of two sample arts that my agent sent out to publishers. The composition is simple and bold, which was perfect for easing myself into the art-working process. And also, it’s a great image for introducing the four key characters of the story. 

Initially, I wanted light to appear to filter through the jungle canopy onto Tiger and the cubs, so they’d be criss-crossed with fern shadow. But that added too much extra fuss and dulled down Tiger’s lush colours, so I ditched the idea. There’s always so much trial and error in my process – which is probably why it takes me so long!

Buy book Click on the link to buy Once Upon a Tiger from Bookshop.org.

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Thank you to Simon & Schuster for sending me this book to review. I reviewed it as part of the Once Upon a Tiger blog tour. Check out all the other posts on the tour for more exclusive content.