Tiger Boy [Paperback]

“One of the new tiger cubs has escaped from the reserve!”

When a tiger cub escapes from a nature reserve near Neel’s island village, the rangers and villagers hurry to find her before the cub’s anxious mother follows suit and endangers them all. Mr. Gupta, a rich newcomer to the island, is also searching—he wants to sell the cub’s body parts on the black market. Neel and his sister, Rupa, resolve to find the cub first and bring her back to the reserve where she belongs.

The hunt for the cub interrupts Neel’s preparations for an exam to win a prestigious scholarship at a boarding school far from home. Neel doesn’t mind—he dreads the exam and would rather stay on his beloved island in the Sunderbans of West Bengal with his family and friends.

But through his encounter with the cub, Neil learns that sometimes you have to take risks to preserve what you love. And sometimes you have to sacrifice the present for the chance to improve the future.

Awards & Honors

• Notable Books for a Global Society
• NCTE Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction (Honorable Mention)
• CBC-NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People
• A Junior Library Guild Selection
• CCBC Choices
• 2017 North Dakota Library Association Flicker Tale Children's Book Award nominee, intermediate fiction
• 2016 South Asia Book Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature

When a Bengali boy finds and saves a tiger cub from a man who wants to sell her on the black market, he realizes that the schoolwork he resents could lead to a career of protection for his beloved Sunderbans island home.
When the not-yet-weaned cub escapes from a nearby reserve, Neel and many of his neighbors join the search. But some are in the pay of greedy Gupta, a shady entrepreneur who's recently settled in their community. Even Neel's father is tempted by Gupta's mls)