“When You Trap A Tiger” by Tae Keller

I got this at the same time as Howl’s Moving Castle, for the same child of friends. It is new to me (I mean obviously; published 2020) and I thought it was wonderful. I was struck by the fact that it’s presented as a magical/fantastical work, but that all strips away very easily (unlike Howl or other fantasy books where you have to accept magic as part of the world or nothing makes sense), leaving an incredibly moving and sad story about family. I am not entirely sure whether the 7-year old for whom I bought this and Howl (and also The Phantom Toll Booth) is quite ready for it (if I had read it before purchasing I might have waited until next year), but I’ll leave that up to her parents. [Update: her mother thinks she’ll be fine; they’ll probably read it together in any case.]