My Mum's a Tiger by Kate Claxton

This should be on everyone's bookshelf! It's a fun story with a great message about body positivity and embracing individuality. It can be read over and over again and it led to lots of great questions from my daughter about my body and the changes it went through when I was pregnant.

What a truly lovely book! Such an empowering read and talks so much about body positivity! The story starts with a little girl ( Eliza) telling everyone about how her mum is a tiger, but not because she has claws or eats meat.. but because she has stripes!
When reading the story with Matthew the first thing he said to me was “I didn’t even notice your stripes mummy” - this stuck with me, because how we view ourselves and our insecurities are very different to others, even our children.
Matthew then asked how I got my stripes, and I told him from having you and Molly. “So when we are not here you always have a reminder of us” - honestly could of cried.
The story goes on to talk about how we should embrace our spots and stripes like animals in the wild. If we were all the same we would be boring, it’s what’s different about us that makes us special.
The illustrations in the book are beautiful, bright and inviting and just tell the story so well!
A very lovely book for book club this week

What a fantastic book, it reinforces body positivity and embracing your individuality.
My 4 year old did question why she didn’t live in the jungle etc but once he realised she had tiger stripes he made the connection. We also talked about how he lived in my tummy and how I grew and developed my own tiger stripes. He lifted his top and proudly showed that he is hairy (he’s fair skinned and dark haired so it shows) which is great as he’s confident of the skin he’s in.
Definitely a book that can be revisited as he gets older and the illustrations are beautiful

Me and my almost 6year old loved this book - the illustrations are stunning, we had to look through the book again after reading the story to take it all in. I’m pretty sure we’ll be spotting something new each time we read it. The book had a nice rhythm to it and was easy to read. It would be suitable for younger children too as it’s not ever so long, and the deeper meaning can come with time as they grow.
It gave us the opportunity to look at my stretch marks (which I will totally now be referring to as tiger stripes from now on!) and my c-section scar, and talk about how amazing our bodies are, and how my body amazingly accommodated her and her brother. I think the book has really spoken to me too, and helping me to think differently about the changes my body has been through. I’m hoping the message of embracing ourselves and others differences will stay with her as she grows, so she can be kind to herself and others, as it can be such a cruel world at times

My children and i enjoy reading this book. The part where Eliza tells everyone her mom is a different sort of tiger did keep my boys guessing and they also found the illustrations funny.

This book made me emotional, especially when the mom said she was frightened when the stretchmarks happened because that was how i felt in my first pregnancy.

The message in this book about loving our bodies and embracing our imperfections is such an important one for our littles to know and sometimes we ourselves need a little reminder.

Overall, a valuable book to have on the bookshelf and I would purchase more to give as gifts.