Never Tickle a Tiger | Pamela Butchart | @simicrane2

Never Tickle a Tiger Written by Pamela Butchart Illustrated by Marc Bouteron Read by Lenny Henry Published by Bloomsbury Children's Books Izzy was forever shuffling and jiggling, squirming and twitching, wriggling and fiddling. She just couldn't help it. It happened at home. Izzy, stop playing with your peas, said Dad. At school, Izzy, stop painting your pigtails, said Miss Potterhurst. At Grandma's, Izzy, stop knotting my knitting, said Grandma. And as for at parties, well... Izzy, stop jiggling the jelly, cried everyone. No matter how hard she tried, Izzy just couldn't keep still. It's no good, she sighed. I'm just a jiggler, and that's that. But when one day, Class 4B went on a trip to the zoo, it came as no surprise to anyone that Izzy was wriggling, jiggling, shuffling and fiddling as soon as they walked through the zoo gates. Stop stroking the snakes, called Miss Potterhurst. Don't excite the elephants. Forget about bothering the bears. Don't mess with the monkeys. Izzy, stop tapping the tortoises. Stop poking the peacock. And never, ever, tickle a tiger. At lunchtime, Izzy sat shuffling her sandwiches. It's so unfair, she said. I'm never allowed to do anything. And what's wrong with fidgeting anyway? Little did Izzy know that she was about to find out. Whilst all the other children finished their lunch, Izzy fidgeted her feet, bounced across the bench, shimmied onto the floor, wriggled under a bush, skipped past the aviary and danced along a path all the way to the tiger enclosure. I wonder, thought Izzy. And with that, she reached out a feather and tickled the tiger. Roared the tiger. He threw his furry paws in the air, which broke a branch, which startled a snake, who bit a bear, who walloped a walrus, who splashed a sloth, who punched a penguin, who kicked a croc, who snapped at a skunk, who ponged a panda, who rammed a rhino, who hit the hippo, who wibbled and wobbled, and... SPLASH! The lion roared, the parrot squawked, the snakes hissed, and the elephants trumpeted loudly. Miss Potterher squealed, the children giggled, and the zookeeper came running. It was pandemonium, and it was all Izzy's fault. But then... STOP! shouted Izzy at the top of her voice. Stop squealing, squawking, splashing and flapping! Enough running, roaming, ramming and bumping! No more jiggling, wriggling, shuffling and squirming! And guess what? It worked! The zookeeper stopped running, Miss Potterher stopped squealing, the children stopped giggling, and all the animals went back to their homes. And as for Izzy... You were right all along, Miss Potterher, she said. I'll never ever tickle a tiger again. But what can be the harm of prodding a polar bear? She thought.