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Review: The Song of the Stone Tiger

ByKelly Keller

“There will always be more stories…They are a way to make something beautiful and orderly in this world, with all its chaos and brokenness.” (p. 256)

Fiction ought to make us ask, “What if it’s real?” In our broken world, the best stories should help us believe that something better is coming—that something better is possible. Glenn McCarty’s new title, The Song of the Stone Tiger, does just that. McCarty skillfully weaves together a narrative that calls the reader to higher thoughts and hopeful ideas.

Intended for a middle-grade audience (the publisher’s website says ages 8-12), The Song of the Stone Tiger feels a bit more grown-up than the author’s previous offerings. Parents may want to be aware that a major plot point entails cancer. The main character, Thomas, is processing the news that his mother is suffering from a recurrence of the cancer the family thought was gone. Thomas’ family is staying with relatives in the North Carolina mountains for a time, and Thomas processes his grief in part by escaping into adventures in the woods. During his time in the woods, he encounters a stone tiger named Shalomar, and his adventures begin marching down a different, more challenging path.

I particularly enjoyed Thomas’s conversations with his mother. As Thomas continues to explore the same forest that his mom played in while she was young, he learns that the stories and adventures he’s having are almost identical to stories she told him. They begin to experience a special kinship that makes Thomas more comfortable with expressing his grief and fear about his mother’s sickness. In her turn, Mom has wise words for him:

“Thomas, the faith we have—the legacy of faith your father and I have brought you and your sister up into—it’s not just something you learn about, like math or grammar. It’s only real when you live your life because of it. And right now, we’re all needing to make choices that will reveal our faith. This is the storm. But our God is beside us in the storm. Can you trust me on that?” (p. 131)

Thomas’ friendship with the tiger, Shalomar, has an air of vulnerability around it. In the same way that Thomas considers how he could ever help his mom’s situation, he strives to help Shalomar. He puzzles over the increasing darkness around his friend, and he works hard to try to save him from a terrible fate. As the darkness grows, Thomas carries on, all the time bearing up under his doubts, aspiring to hope.

“‘It seems like for every bad thing that happens, there are two more good things to think about,’ Thomas said. ‘Is it always that way, or is it just because it’s a sunny day, and we just survived a waterfall?’ ‘I believe that’s called hope,’ Shalomar said.” (p. 191)

Attentive readers of this book will enjoy McCarty’s influences; his sense of humor is on clear display with names like “Burpnurble” and “Mosswarble.” Admirers of the lands of Narnia will be delighted with winks at stone animals coming back to life with a mother’s lullaby; readers of tales from Middle-earth might enjoy a chapter of riddles and answers. Along the way, the reader is rewarded with plenty of delight in words and stories, even as the main character experiences doubt and difficulty.

There is a call here for the Christian reader to pay attention to what they are believing. McCarty deftly expresses that one character “still believed the song was the truth, and the fear was the lie.” (p.155) We are reminded that there are many voices from day to day, and we do best when we use discernment to divide beautiful truth from attractive lies. Too often, we can become paralyzed by belief in the lie. Freedom comes as a result of listening to the old song.

I’m delighted to heartily recommend this hopeful adventure, and I plan to put a few in my cart for some younger readers this Christmas. You can find your copy at Bandersnatch Books. 

Kelly Keller
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