All Louisa wants is to practice her violin and audition for a youth orchestra in Canada. Instead, her parents ship her off to Australia for the summer. In Australia, she stays with her Uncle Ruff, who rescues native animals. While there, she learns about the Tasmanian tiger, an animal thought to be extinct, and makes friends with Colin, a young boy on the autism spectrum. With the impending destruction of the secret tiger sanctuary, the three are determined to capture and relocate the last remaining tiger.

This was a good middle school/pre-teen book. It was well written and engaging. The characters were multi dimensional and dynamic. The book also had an educational component, as it discussed wildlife preservation and native Australian animals. Overall, 4 out of 5 stars.

Not my cup of tea, personally. I felt too little happened and the pacing was....strange. I'm sure others will adore it though. A book for every reader, right?

Music for Tigers is a fantastic coming of age story. There are many different things dealt with In the novel and they all flow together so well. It’s crazy knowing that there were animals that were abundant at one time and people deciding they were pests killed them off. And yes you know that there aren’t really tigers running around Tasmania and that no one has noticed them yet but it is a wonderful thought thinking they could be out there somewhere. That people cared enough about the animals to protect them. It also handles autism and anxiety very well. There are some stories that slap that label on people and don’t do much other then write a character as ‘socially awkward; or something like that but Coli is so well rounded. He’s someone that knows his limits and has moments where he’s overwhelmed and has ways to self calm just like someone does in real life.

It’s such a realistic portrayal that I think it’s perfect for a middle grade book when kids are starting to really see things and there are always the problems with bullying. It shows that he’s not ‘odd’ or ‘weird’ (words used in the book to say what he isn’t) but a child that’s different just like everyone else. I would fully recommend this book both for it’s characters and it’s story. I really enjoyed it.

Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley

When I was in middle school, I helped out as a library aide. You got to take out as many books as you wanted, and you got to play as much Oregon Trail as you wanted. I lost count of how many times I took out the Guinness’s Book of World Animal Records. It was that book that first introduced me to the thylacine (or Tasmanian Tiger).
Kadarusman’s young adult novel is about Louisa who much rather be practicing for an audition yet finds herself visiting her mother’s family, whose lands is about to be taken and repurposed. The problem is that the land has been a refugee for certain animals that may be consider extinct by the larger population. Of course, the action takes place on Tasmania.
It was wonderful to read a young adult novel, with a character who is in her late teens, that does not have a love triangle at its center. Well, unless you count Louisa’s love for music. Louisa is the right amount of slightly resentful teen (the rest of her family are scientists) but also a good girl who you can identify with. She also learns and adapts as the story goes on. The supporting characters are well drawn as well.
At times, the book does feel a bit too much like a science lecture. This is in part because of the conversations about the tigers as well as neurotypicals. It should be noted that it does not read like a speech or a “very important lesson”. The passages are closer to info dumps, but they don’t quite read like them.
The conversations between characters, especially between Louisa and other young people, feel very nature and organic. This is particularly true of the conversations between Colin and Louisa. I love the use of Colin as a character. The use of the old diary is interesting and is blended in quite well with the rest of the book. There is a sure change of voice in these sections.
Recommended.

Music for Tigers is a beautifully written middle grade novel that will warm the hearts of young readers. Lou grows by leaps and bounds when she is sent to spend the summer in Tasmania instead of practicing her violin. Readers will find themselves drawn into this beautiful story as Lou connects with her family roots and the Australian back country.

There are books that grip you from page one and transport you right into the story. The author takes you on a journey and drops you right in the middle of their story, Michelle Kadarusman has this particular magic in her writing. Never have I read one of her beautiful books and not been completely captivated, almost always reading them in one sitting.

Music for Tigers is her incredible new story, set in the Tasmanian rainforest, about family, legacy, friendship, and environmentalism. Michelle Kadarusman explores so many different themes with the time and attention they need to grow. In the story we meet Louisa who is sent to spend some time at her Uncle Ruff’s bush camp in Tasmania, much to her chagrin. She should be spending the summer practicing her violin for her big audition. While at the camp she meets her great-grandmother, through her journals, a new friend in Colin, and a once thought extinct Tasmanian tiger named Ellie.

Music is found in many different places. There is the music created by musicians to entertain us but there is also the music of the everyday. The music in the birds singing in the trees, the frogs croaking in the ponds, the chattering of children as they play. While in the rainforest Louisa makes many discoveries. She discovers the music in sitting and listening to the wildlife around her. She discovers she is not quite so different from her family after all and she discovers how she can be a good friend. There are times when we just don;t recognize how we fit into our family dynamic. We feel so different from those around us that it’s hard to know how we belong. In Louisa’s case her passion for music is so different from the passion for biology her mom, dad, and older sister share. While staying in her ancestral home she discovers she wasn’t the only person in her family with a passion for music, her great-grandmother Eleanor was not only an environmentalist and an ecological protectionist, she was also an accomplished pianist. When she meets Colin, the son of her Uncle Ruff’s neighbour and an accomplished rainforest tour guide, she meets a neurodiverse friend who she helps to navigate the challenging world of body language and social interaction. Colin helps Louisa recognize and name what has been keeping her from earning a place in the youth orchestra, performance anxiety. His blunt recognition of her challenge helps her find comfort and also allows her the confidence to confide in her parents and get the help and resources she needs to succeed. Together they help to save a long thought extinct species.

Michelle Kadarusman always writes from the heart. She writes about places she has lived that have a piece of her spirit. She lovingly addresses topics that at one time were thought taboo in children’s literature. It is incredible to have authors forthrightly tackling topics such as mental health, neurodiversity, and environmentalism. These are topics that are so relevant to youth today and will strike a chord with many young readers. It’s a book that would make an incredible read aloud in a classroom or as a bedtime read and it’s also a story that will inspire action well after you are finished with the story. There are so many elements you could dive down into further to really get to the heart of the characters. Consider enjoying Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons before, during, and after reading. You will gain a new perspective for the genius behind the work.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

I'm a big fan of the author's writing so this book was one of my most anticipated reads of 2020, and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Louisa lives in Canada, but is sent to Tasmania to spend the summer with her mom's brother at their family bush camp while her parents are busy doing field research. Louisa's passion lies with music, particularly her violin, and she'd rather be at home practicing for an upcoming audition than in the middle of the rainforest with an uncle she's never met. It doesn't take long until she discovers a family secret; her family has protected a species that is considered extinct, but the impending destruction of their camp to make way for logging in the area puts the animals in jeopardy. Louisa must help her uncle and his friends trap and relocate a Tasmanian tiger out of harms way, but can they do it before it's too late?

There are so many things I like about this story. I loved that it took place in a location that was new to me, and how it made me question what we really know about species considered extinct (this could lead to some fascinating classroom discussion). I appreciated how the author presented Louisa's friend, Colin. who is autistic. He and Louisa formed a special friendship, and I loved that Louisa accepts him from the start of the novel, and the positive influence they both have on each other. I also enjoyed the journals of Louisa's Great Granny Eleanor, and how the family history is tied into the story. I was very happy to see the author acknowledge the Tasmanian Aboriginal community, and that Elders were mentioned as playing a role in the relocation.

I would definitely recommend adding this book to your middle grade collection when it is released on April 28/20.