“The Tiger Rising is a lush, exotic little gem–this writer’s a keeper.”–Karen Hesse, Newbery Medal-winning author of Out of the Dust

Walking through the misty Florida woods one morning, twelve-year-old Rob Horton is stunned to find a tiger–a real-life, very large tiger–locked in a cage. What’s more, on the same extraordinary day, he meets Sistine Bailey, a girl who shows her feelings as readily as Rob hides his. As they learn to trust each other and, ultimately, to be friends, Rob and Sistine prove that some things–like memories, and heartache, and tigers–can’t be locked up forever.