Judith Kerr
Harper Collins
Age 3-7
First published in 1968, this story has become a popular picture book classic. It tells the surreal tale of a tiger who calls at a little girl called Sophie’s door waiting to be fed. With gentle humour and repetitive language this is a very suitable book for developing readers.
Share the story
Read aloud
If you can, start reading the book to your child without showing the cover picture or title, pause when Sophie’s mother wonders who is knocking at the door and encourage your child to have some guesses too. ‘Who do you think is at the door…could it be granny or the next door neighbour? Maybe it’s….’
Join in
Read the story with your child more than once and on your second or third reading encourage your child to join in with the parts about what the tiger ate. ‘But the tiger didn’t eat just one bun….’ Don’t worry if your child seems to be remembering the story rather than reading word for word, understanding and enjoying the story is more important than getting every word right.
Talk about the story
The idea of a tiger coming to tea is very funny, you could talk about what you would do if the tiger called at your house, what would you feed him?
This story, written over 40 years ago, portrays a now quite dated version of family life with a Mum at home and a dad who goes to work. You might want to talk about who does which jobs in your family or in other families you know. There are other differences to talk about as well such as the idea of a milkman calling at the door, much less common now than it was in the 60s.
Watch the story
From Darren Robert McTurk
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