The Night Tiger by Sherryl Clark and Hannah Sommerville

Title: The Night Tiger

Author: Sherryl Clark and Hannah Sommerville

Genre: Contemporary

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Published: 3^rd March 2026

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 32

Price: $24.99

Synopsis: A beautiful, evocative picture book about the sense of wonder that comes with conquering a fear of the dark. Perfect bedtime reading for little children with big imaginations from two celebrated and award-winning creators.

I arch my back high, feel my night tiger paws
and night tiger claws stalk across the grass,
flick my tiger tail, twitch my tiger ears,
growl my night tiger groooooowwwwwl.

After the sun sets, the night creeps in and it’s time for bed. But darkness shrinks as the full moon springs up above the trees, lighting the garden and inviting a child to take on an intrepid night-time adventure, prowling the back garden with the family cat.

A glorious and poetic celebration of imagination, courage and daring.

This book is perfect for:
– Reading a gorgeous, gentle bedtime story
– Readers who love the wonder of Where the Wild Things Are
– Nurturing the power of imagination to work through difficult feelings
– Fostering courage, confidence and a sense of wonder

~*~

Imagine if you could turn into a tiger at night. What would you do? Would you be able to sleep? Or, as in this book, would it help you with your fear of the dark? The little boy in this book is being sent to bed in the dark, but he can’t sleep. It’s too dark! And his imagination keeps getting the better of him.

So he ventures out into the night with his cat and becomes a tiger! In his tiger form, and starts to explore the dark world as a tiger, growling and pouncing, and twitching his ears and tail. The moonlight world that Sherryl Clark writes eloquently about is captured beautifully by Hannah Sommerville’s divine and timeless illustrations, that position this story as one that can be read by all ages, and that doesn’t grasp onto a particular time or place other than bedtime.

It’s filled with joy as the little boy uses his tiger form to chase the night, and explore, and has a distinct fantasy or magical realism feel to it, as what child hasn’t dreamed of becoming an animal, or pretended to be an animal? It’s the little joys of playing pretend to help cope with fears that are front and centre in this lovely, gentle new picture book.

And it is proof that picture books don’t always need to be funny or filled with fart jokes or anything like that that it is often assumed will be big sellers for kids. They’re popular, sure, but I love books like this that explore something that is innately human: fear. And a fear of the dark is common for children, so it can help them understand why, or be able to talk about it and explore this fear in a safe way with the grown-up in their lives.

I have to say after reading a lot of picture books, I found this one to be one of my favourites, as it combines bedtime, fears, tigers and a sense of wonder whilst trying to conquer your fears all in one! This has to be one of the best picture books I have read so far this year and hope others enjoy it too.