Looking for a story about walking with an (imaginary?) tiger

[Mij]

I have a really strong visual memory from reading a book (or a story as part of a book) as a kid, of a child walking with a tiger by his or her side. My vague recollection is that it was a story about courage (can't remember what the child was facing. Loneliness? Bullying?) and the child would walk with one hand on the tiger to give him/her strength/courage.

That image has stuck with me all these years and I'd love to read it with DD1 as she's facing her own challenges. Anyone have any ideas? Googling with this level of vagueness is naturally getting me nowhere.

[JollySleepyGiant]

Aslan (lion) walks with the children at times in the Narnia stories. I think in The Horse and his Boy most memorably. Could it be that?

[Mij]

Ah, I hadn't thought of that but no, I came to Narnia later and this was an earlier memory and I think a much shorter story (which is why I'm wondering if perhaps it was in a collection rather than a stand alone book). I'm not sure DD is ready for C S Lewis yet. Next year maybe. But thanks :-)

[BeaWheesht]

I seem to remember a story of a boy and a tiger and them walking along a beach ???

[BewitchedBefuzzledBewildered]

Tigerbear!

[BewitchedBefuzzledBewildered]

It's definitely Tigerbear, we read it only yesterday

[FriedSprout]

Tiger Rising here

[Mij]

Thanks to all of you. It isn't those but they look interesting so will definitely look it up. I'm a child of the 70s so it's quite an old book/story.

I've suddenly had a thought though that it may be in an anthology series that I still own. If I find it I'll let you know!

More suggestions still welcome though :-)

[Mij]

BeeWheesht my memory is of them walking along a road in a wood, but that doesn't mean they didn't walk along a beach too. It's just one of those really clear but very isolated memories that got a bit mixed up with The Cat Who Walked By Himself and now I can't untangle them well enough to track the damn thing down.

[TheWomanTheyCallJayne]

We have a book about a boy who goes for a walk playing follow my leader and meets all kind so animal ending up with a tiger?

[MrsHowardRoark]

A painted tale?
That is set in an art gallery and a little girl meets a tiger from one of the paintings.
It definitely fits the weird 70s criteria!

[Mij]

I don't know, my memory is that it wasn't a playful book, but about the tiger giving the child courage in a difficult situation (wish I could remember what that situation was!) I'll check out A Painted Tale though. Thewomantheycalljayne What's yours called?

[TheWomanTheyCallJayne]

I think it might be called 'follow my/the leader'

[PomBearWithAnOFRS]

Could it be "Midway"? I can't for the life of me remember who wrote it, but I read it years ago, and may well still have my battered old copy somewhere.
The little boy is a bit of an outsider at school, and there's a sinister man who wants to get hold of the boy's father's papers or work somehow. The tiger, Midway, appears when the boy really needs him, and eventually the boy realises the tiger is coming "from deep deep down, inside himself"
There's a scene in a museum on a school trip where the boy is being tickled and hates it, and one where the tiger appears on his bedside rug too iirc...

[ZacharyQuack]

Calvin and Hobbes. That was one cool tiger.

[Mij]

PomBearWithAnOFRS That sounds the closest so far. I'll check it out.

Thanks.

[frumpypigskin]

I've just found this thread. It's not The Dancing Tiger is it?

[Misfitless]

It's not A Lion in the Meadow is it, OP? It was first published in UK in 1969, but was reprinted several times throughout the 70s and 80s. Anyway, the author was Margaret Mahy, illustrated by Jenny Williams - you've got all the details to rule it out, if nothing else! Hope you find it.

[BikeRunSki]

Also child of the 1970s,my much older cousins had a picture story book "Little Black Sambo" which had a boy and a tiger.

[Clawdy]

I thought it might be The Dancing Tiger,too.