Tiger-Tiger, Is It True?: Four Questions to Make You Smile Again by Byron Katie

Tiger-Tiger, Is It True?: Four Questions to Make You Smile Again Reviews

• 
  Bionic Jean

  Positive thinking for tiny tots, written by a New Age Californian author of inspirational books and courses, who goes by the name "Byron Katie". She has founded a method of self-inquiry called "The Work". Her website is titled "Meet Your Internal Wisdom". This picture book applies the principles for very young children who have self-doubt and might feel worried about the world.
  
  Here is the first sentence on Byron Katie's website:
  
  "I discovered that when I believed my thoughts I suffered, but when I didn’t believe them I didn’t suffer, and that this is true for every human being."
  
  Most people love this book, but I found it slightly disturbing with a hidden agenda. Because I am so out of step, I will not rate the book. I am glad the theories help some people.
• 
  Hissa

  This book shows how positive thinking can change everything!
• 
  Loredana Mariana Bublitchi

  
  “Tigrule-Tigrut, e adevarat?” spune povestea unui pui de tigru care are o zi nu tocmai buna. Acasa, la micul dejun, parintii lui se cearta, la scoala este ales ultimul la toate jocurile si colac peste papaza, prietenul cel mai bun se joaca cu altcineva, nebagandu-l in seama.
  Se simtea îngrozitor si a ajuns sa creada ca nimanui nu-i pasa de lui si nici nu-l place 🥺.
  
  Însa în tot necazul lui, întâlnirea cu testoasa reuseste sa ii schimbe parerea si perceptia asupra unor aspecte, demonstrandu-i cat de mult conteaza gandirea pozitiva 🥰.
  
  Orice gand rau isi are opusul, iar o data ce incepi sa-l privesti cu alti ochi, se schimba situatia, dar si dispozitia ☺️. Totul tine de modul cum gandim si cat de mult lasam unele ganduri sa ne framante…
  
  O poveste potrivita pentru cei mici, de 3+, citita fie de-a lungul zilei, fie inainte de nani, care-i va ajuta sa-si faca si eu ordine-n gandurile ce-i framanta. Cu siguranta au si eu framantarile lor si nu stiu cum sa le gestioneze 🙈.
  
• 
  Helena

  Why make it harder than it has to be? The Work condensed into 32 beautifully illustrated pages. :-)
• 
  Phia

  My step-mum made me read this coz my self esteem is very low lol
• 
  Melinda Kline

  Best part of all is getting to read this to my grandson Juty!! He really liked the pictures and he liked Tiger-Tiger! He could name his emotions! He wanted to give it 5 stars! I agree!
• 
  Kevin Orth

  If I had one, and only one, book to purchase for a young person this would be the book. How wonderful it would be to have this wisdom, perspective, view, and appreciation for the power of thought and now easily one can move beyond the illusory perceptions our minds would have us believe is true. Highly recommend to anyone of any age.
• 
  Zoie

  “Tiger, Tiger, Is It True?” is the story of a Tiger cub who is having a rotten day. He thinks life is unfair as he has one thing after another happen to add to this feeling. He meets up with a turtle who asks him to question his suppositions about his feelings and other people “making” him feel alone, unheard, and undervalued. He listens to Tiger Tiger say things like, “Nobody cares about me.” and asks, “Are you certain this is true that NO ONE care about you?” Then gently guides Tiger Tiger to see that this is not completely true and in the process, diffuses the feelings of sadness and frustration....
  
  This book was written by Byron Katie, who wrote, among other books, the adult version of this “Tiger, Tiger” called: Loving What Is, Four Questions That Can Change Your Life. I highly recommend checking it out as well if you like the message in this children’s book. The idea that you can break the cycle of your thoughts has been extremely helpful to me in my journey to break PPD’s hold, as well as in every day life (especially in parenting.)
  
  This review is an excerpt from the
  review on my blog, which also includes activities to do with your kids. Please feel free to stop by.
• 
  Nicole

  A fun, kid-friendly book to flesh out the CBT concept of thought-stopping. As an elementary school counselor who works with anxiety, I think this is a wonderful resource to help kids understand the power of their thoughts in influencing how they feel and react. I will be using this in an anxiety group!
• 
  Terran Drake

  It's about a tiger who becomes sad and meets a turtle. Ever think a little thought that can make you really upset? Whenever you think that nobody likes you, that nobody cares, you find out, soon, as soon as you meet a turtle, that there are lots of people that like you.
• 
  Sabrina Kaye Fox

  Good book to read to your children. Really shows the power of what positive thinking can do for your mindset.
• 
  L.A.

  I purchased this book for my kiddos after reading Byron’s “Loving What Is” (LWI). I’m not sure if I would have purchased it if I could have first tried it at the local library (I did not purchase LWI), but now I can repeat use with my 18-month-old when he’s old enough. My almost five year old (5yo) likes the story by itself.
  
  My 5yo and I have been able to easily apply questions 1 and 2 to a myriad of books and scenarios we’ve encountered, in addition to some of her own personal situations. May I just say that as someone who is working on not taking everything in life so personally, it is SUPER hard to remember to do this with a small, highly emotional child in the heat of her moments. However, it’s SUPER rewarding as the parent to ask myself, “Can I absolutely know my assessment of this situation is true?” and THEN ask my 5yo if her assessment of the situation causing her emotional display is valid.
  
  Question 3 is easy enough for her to answer since we both know how she just acted out, based on her belief that something is a certain way.
  
  Question 4 has been tricky for her. “Who would you be without that thought?” and “How does it feel if you are *not* thinking that thought?” are kind of like asking a double negative, which can be challenging even for an adult. In LWI, Byron states that the typical answer from children she receives to this question is, “I would be happy.” I think my daughter said that once (after we’d just read this book, in which Tiger gives that answer), but generally she isn’t sure how to answer. I’ve found it most helpful to skip this question sort of—ask it, but then move right to the turnarounds.
  
  So far our most successful stint at The Work was addressing her belief that a monster is going to climb our house and eat her at night—a belief that causes her to run into the hallway shouting for me, waking me, my husband, and her baby brother. The turnaround we arrived at (since “there are no dragons alive today” or “dragons are nice” weren’t turnarounds she was willing to accept) is, “I am a dragon who is going to break in and eat people.” Sounds horrible right? But the fact is that she really isn’t focused on a dragon after she wakes up. She wants retucked, she wants me to take her potty, etc. She isn’t in fear of her life. After getting to the turnarounds, she came to the conclusion that when she wakes up, she wants everyone in the house to be as upset as she is before going back to sleep. And that’s a monstrously selfish thing to do. 🤷🏼‍♀️ So now we both know that it’s her choice whether she’s going to be a dragon, or whether we’ll all get to sleep through the night.
  
  As a Christian, I see some holes in The Work and can’t ascribe to it wholesale, but even as a Christian I find this to be a helpful technique from which even a child can benefit.
• 
  L.L.

  Ponieważ cenię książki dla dorosłych autorki, byłem bardzo ciekawy jak jej wyszła książka dla dzieci :) I muszę przyznać, że całkiem nieźle. To jedna, prosta historyjka (ale i tak bardziej rozbudowana niż chwilkę wcześniej przeze mnie przeczytana książka dla dzieci :D ), ale podana w sposób przystępny dla nawet małego dziecka, a jednocześnie faktycznie zawierająca 4 kwestionujące nasze myśli pytania w najprostszy sposób. Gdybym miał dzieci, to właśnie takie książki chciałbym im czytać, koniecznie. Tak, warto!
  
  (przeczytana: 4.08.2024)
  5/5 [9/10]
• 
  Smitha Murthy

  I had heard of ‘The Work,’ of course. And this is taking the four questions that form the framework for that and applying it so that children can understand. And adults even more so. I end up making a lot of assumptions and the four questions are really helpful in stepping back and understanding the reality of a situation or person without the burden of our thoughts to color it.
  
• 
  John

  Boiled down to the essence
  
  Explain it to a little one. It’s not nearly as complicated as the oldth make it Excellent perspective for young and old.
• 
  Kristen Dutkiewicz

  Simple children’s book about positive thinking.
• 
  Kareena

  So preachy... Too wordy for a storytime
• 
  Vikram

  Short and quick book with biggest of the wisdom.
• 
  Jengae

  Not just for kids, adults could also use this book for reminders every once in a while. The Work is a life long process
• 
  Kristy Moondaughter

  Sweet book
  
  Children’s books can teach adults a lot.
  Learning the for questions and turn around around will be useful in my life.
• 
  Juli

  I liked it so much, I translated it into Bulgarian lol
  5/5, very cute
• 
  Thaz

  I’m on the fence for this one. On one hand, I think this book is perfect for the negativists out there. On the other hand, I’m rooting for tiger to choose the right friends in school.
• 
  Anchit

  Very nice! A quick method to overcome the blues.
• 
  Aurora Shele

  A very good children's book that makes you think and change your perspective about life.
• 
  Farnoosh Brock

  Beautiful story of a little Tiger who is very sad about ordinary life troubles until he meets Turtle who asks him the questions related to The Work, Byron Katie's brilliant self-inquiry method. For more on The Work, definitely read Loving What Is - My personal review of that book is
  here on Goodreads.
  
  Disclaimer: I received a signed copy of the book from the author, Hans Wilhelm.
  
  I don't have any kids but I have read children's books and I think this one has a strong message. It may be too hard for small kids but I think if read slowly and several times - this is not a book that you read once - the message needs to be repeated and then applied to a child's personal life situation - then it can be invaluable.
  
  Love the artwork and I know kids would enjoy it even more, especially since it's the world of little/big animals. Well-done Byron Katie and Hans Wilhelm. A true 5-star rating!
• 
  Jo Furniss

  I love the concept of this book: a simplified CBT to help young kids deal with difficult feelings and bad thoughts. The illustrations suggest a young target audience (I guess, 4-7), but the language is so wordy and awkward that it's too tricky for this age group. For example: "how does it feel if you are not thinking the thought that nobody cares and nobody likes you?" Even I had to read that a couple of times! I try to simply it for the kids as we're reading... But the story is cute and it touches on issues that really start to affect young ones as they negotiate more complex social settings at schools and play groups.