Fuse 8 n’ Kate: A Tiger Called Thomas by Charlotte Zolotow

Older holiday books for kids have a tendency to be a bit on the white side. So I was thinking I was pretty slick when I came up with A Tiger Called Thomas for today’s discussion. But here’s the thing; I thought the version illustrated by Diana Cain Bluthenthal was the only one out there. I was unaware that this book hadn’t just been re-illustrated once but has FOUR different artists! Just to make all of this clear from the start, the four versions we’ll be discussing are:

A Tiger Called Thomas by Charlotte Zolotow, illustrated by Kurt Werth (1963)

A Tiger Called Thomas by Charlotte Zolotow, illustrated by Catherine Stock (1988)

A Tiger Called Thomas by Charlotte Zolotow, illustrated by Diana Cain Bluthenthal (2003)

A Tiger Called Tomás by Charlotte Zolotow, illustrated by Marta Alvarez Miguéns (2018)

Kate didn’t expect a heartwarming Halloween story, but we managed to find one.
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Source Notes:
– This is not the first time I’ve gone into my William’s Doll rant. You can read the piece The Case for Re-Illustration for my full thoughts. I don’t mention it in the podcast but I think the real difference here is publishers. William’s Doll came out with Greenwillow. Thomas, in contrast, was originally published by Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., then by Hyperion, and now by Sourcebooks. It bounces around!
– A nine or ten-year-old Tomás in the most recent version of the story:

– Here is Kate’s tattoo. And I, for one, appreciate her appreciation of sparrows.

– Candy apples. I mean, how would that even work? You drop them in your bag and then everything sticks to them? Clearly this woman has never done Halloween before.

– Continuing the neighborhood tradition of baked goods, the pumpkin cookies:

– And finally, more with the baked goods! What is going on?!?

– If for no other reason, this note at the end of the book is a great addition:

– A younger looking Thomas. Possibly seven or eight years of age.

– This is very interesting, and I don’t think I would have noticed this. As Kate correctly points out, there’s a two-page spread of no text found only in this version of the story.

– We’d put the age of Thomas at age five in this version.

– Your call. Is this or is this not a poodle?

– A mildly resentful Thomas, looking a bit older than some subsequent versions. Say, eight or so.

– The many fashions of teenaged Gerald.

– The old mustached man a.k.a. the Farrah Fawcett of facial foliage.

– Has a purely Photoshopped book ever won a Caldecott? I call upon you, my readers, to help me come up with the answer to this.
– The Slytherin Pigeon or, as Brooke called it, The Slygeon.

– Here are some of the lovely cakes I was not allowed to eat.




– Here are the trolls that Kate saw at the Morton Arboretum.

Filed under: Fuse 8 n' Kate