Alison Lloyd,
Year of the Tiger
Holiday House, 2010 (first published in Australia by Penguin, 2008).

Ages 9-12

Alison Lloyd, who spent two years in China with the Australian diplomatic service, sets her debut young adult novel in second-century Han China, 300 years after the building of the Great Wall. In her fictional northern town of Beicheng, nestled close by the Wall, Hu, a 12-year-old boy, born in the year of the tiger to a poor family of acrobats and entertainers, meets his challenging destiny. In the process, the rigid class structures of the time are both revealed and transgressed, and young readers will learn a great deal about this very different time and place while holding their breath as Cheng’s exciting story unfolds.

The wall near Beicheng is deteriorating, making the area vulnerable to invasion from fierce “barbarians” to the west. Ren Zhang, also 12 (and so also a “tiger”), has accompanied his father to the area, where Commander Zhang and his troops are overseeing the restoration of the wall. Hu’s father and other villagers are conscripted to do the hard labor and to supply provisions for the army. Hu and Ren, unlikely comrades given their vast difference in status, meet because both are strongly motivated to win an archery contest. Hu has the skills, but Ren has the connections to acquire a proper bow and arrows.

Over the course of the Year of the Tiger, dire circumstances put the boys’ lives at risk and repeatedly test their growing trust of each other. Ren is condescending and thoughtless of the difficulties Hu’s family endures, while Hu is suspicious and resentful of Ren’s privilege. In time, however, they come to realize they can do more together than apart. By the end of the novel, they have been instrumental in saving Beicheng from invaders.

A glossary and pronunciation guide to Chinese phrases and names in the book precedes the text. An author’s note at the end offers historical context and explains the Chinese 12-year animal calendar cycle. Alison Lloyd is a talented writer whose ambitious and thrilling first novel will spellbind readers.

Charlotte Richardson
June 2010