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Music for Tigers
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Music for Tigers

by Michelle Kadarusman
  • adventure
  • fiction

A young violinist discovers her mother’s family secretly harbour a sanctuary for extinct Tasmanian tigers in the remote Australian rainforest, huge marsupials that were famously hunted into extinction almost a hundred years ago.

Or so the world believes.

Hidden in the rainforest at the sanctuary, Convict Rock, established by her great-grandmother Eleanor, one tiger remains. Louisa forges unexpected connections with the people, with the forest, and—through Eleanor’s journal—with her great-grandmother. She begins to suspect the key to saving the tiger is her very own music. But will her plan work? Or will the enigmatic Tasmanian tiger disappear once again, this time forever?

A moving coming-of-age story.

Contributors

Michelle Kadarusman, author

Michelle Kadarusman grew up in Melbourne, Australia, and has also lived in Indonesia and Canada. Her 2019 middle-grade novel Girl of the Southern Sea was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award and a Junior Library Guild selection. Rights for Australia, New Zealand, and Turkey have sold. Her previous novel The Theory of Hummingbirds was a finalist for the Forest of Reading Silver Birch Award, the MYRCA Sundogs Award, and the SYRCA Diamond Willow Award. Rights for Australia, New Zealand, and Spanish have sold. Michelle lives in Toronto, Canada, and is looking forward to soon spending more time in Australia.

Reviews

  • A well-told and timely story, which gently but firmly addresses topics such as environmental impact, endangered species, neurodiversity, friendship, bullying, and being your best self….A solid choice for middle grade collections providing a balanced and comprehensible voice to the environmental discussion for young people - School Library Journal
  • ★ Kadarusman masterfully creates a lush, magical world where issues associated with conservation, neurodiversity, and history intersect in surprising and authentic ways….Crucially, the author acknowledges the original, Indigenous inhabitants of the land as experts…A beautiful conservation story told in a rich setting and peopled with memorable characters.—Kirkus Reviews ★ Starred Review - Kirkus Reviews Link to review

Awards

  • 2021 Nominee, Forest of Reading Silver Birch Fiction Award
  • 2021 Selection, USBBY Outstanding International Book
  • 2020 Winner, Northern Lights Book Award: Middle-Grade Multicultural Category

Rights Holder

Rights Holder: Pajama Press

email: rights@pajamapress.ca

website: https://www.pajamapress.ca

rights available: World, excl. North America

Additional Information

age range: 10 - 12

publication date: 04/01/2020

Original language of pub: English

Materials Available: finished book

Additional Materials: Teaching Guide