When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo

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Ni and authors Nghi Vo, Wesley Chu, Amélie Wen Zhao, Tao Wong and Alice Poon for a TBRCon2023 author panel on 'Wuxia, Xianxia & Asian-Inspired Fantasy.' This week, join moderator/author/editor Xueting C.

I really hope there will be more where this book came from.Every week, we are highlighting a panel from TBRCon2023, looking back on the amazing variety of panels that we had the honor of hosting. It touched deep themes and you will definitely need to hold your students by hand, but it will help you kick-start meaningful discussions on diplomacy, multiperspectivity (although, for this, I actually recommend When the Tiger came down the Mountain), and grief. I would recommend this book (together with all the other books in the cycle) to any teacher of younger kids – I am thinking primary school with guided reading, or lower secondary with a guided discussion. It was dreamy and whimsical, and it truly sucked me in. It was a beautiful reflection on grief and on the impact that people have on us and that we have on people. It was a poignant review of what is “home”, and what does it mean to go back and find it slightly but irrevocably changed. It was a quiet and reflective story when I needed some calm for my overextended brain.

What I can tell you in the meanwhile is this: this book spoke to me to a whole lot of different levels. Why are they there? Who are they with? How are the monks going to deal with it? …you’ll have to wait until September 12 to read the book and find out! He finds old friends, who might or might not have changed while he was away, a familiar and loving home, and a surprise: two ROYAL (!) Mammoths camped outside the gates of Singing Hills. I will tell you just this: in this book, Cleric Chi goes home. The story is quite short, so it is very hard to provide a short plot summary without spoilers. I like it from beginning to end, starting from the characters who were only just named in passing in other books, and who finally took shape in these 84 pages, up to what I personally consider a full circle from my first Nghi Vo, When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain: Mammoths are back! I really liked the previous instalments of this cycle, but I truly loved this one. It was so nice to enter back into the Singing Hills world.

When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo