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Walking with the Harimau Tigers
Tigers are a wild cat that I am fascinated by, reading this beautiful book inspired me to want to learn more and thanks to Charlotte at HCCB I was able to start doing that by asking author Felicity Yeoh some questions about the book. I hope it will inspire you too, to find out how much joy books are able to share and how many important messages they can sneak in...
Why did you choose a picturebook format for this very evocative subject – the fact that tigers (and other animals) are losing their natural habitats? I absolutely love picture books because I think they’re the perfect format for reading together, even with older children. They’re just the right length for a bedtime story, and they’re naturally interactive, because there’s so much to see and ask questions about. For this particular story, the picture book format meant that we could really display the beauty of the forest environment and show what was at risk, thanks to Megan’s stunning artwork. And the form of the story, this very lyrical, almost sing-song rhyme, was also supposed to feel like a lullaby. It’s the same form the mother tiger uses to tell her cub about the Kingdom of Tigers as they snuggle up for the night, and I always envisaged this book as a bedtime story, that readers might dream of the rainforest and feel a real emotional connection to it.
Was it intentional to make the tiger cub your narrator? How do you think that impacts the reader and changes their perspective on the story? Making the tiger cub the narrator was a suggestion from a couple of editors and my agent, and to my surprise, writing in Hari’s voice changed everything. Suddenly, the central message of the story became clear. It wasn’t only about the specific plight of endangered tigers – it’s really about the universal desire for a home, a safe place to fulfil your potential, and not giving up on your dreams.
Have you been fortunate enough to see these beautiful creatures in their natural habitat?Tragically, there are very few harimau tigers left in the wild. The WWF estimates that there are fewer than 200 Malayan tigers alive today as a result of deforestation and poaching, making them a critically endangered species.
But there is a place where it’s possible to see them – the real-life Kingdom of Tigers, Belum-Temengor Forest Reserve in my family’s home state of Perak. Aunty Michelle (Michelle Yeoh, actress and UN Goodwill Ambassador who inspired this story) told me about the vital work they are doing to preserve the rainforest habitat for tigers like Hari and other species like tapirs, sun bears and snakes. I’ve read so much about it and admired the stunning photos—you can even see footage of harimau tigers in the wild. I’d love to go there with my family one day. It’s a beautiful part of the world.
These tigers are native to Malaysia, your home country. Although you now live in the UK do you still feel very much in tune with your heritage and remain inspired by its beauty? Oh, absolutely! I grew up here, but my parents took us to Singapore and Malaysia every year to see our grandparents and extended family, and they always called it “going home.” I carried on going back to visit my grandfather and the family in Malaysia each year, and it was really special to bring my husband to Malaysia, to Ipoh, my family’s hometown, and for a beach holiday in Langkawi. Malaysia is one of my favourite places in the world. When my grandfather passed away, he left money for an annual family reunion dinner and I’d love to bring our children to it one year! I last went in 2023, and it was a spectacular evening – I’d just signed the contract for The Kingdom of Tigers with Harper Collins and we were celebrating Aunty Michelle’s Oscar win for Everything Everywhere All At Once and her marriage to Uncle Jean.
Ipoh’s known for its quirky street art and I particularly admired this tiger! Also for its delicious food.
What would you like to see happen, what action would you like so see, that helps tigers and other animals retain their natural habitats? Protecting biodiversity should be a critical global priority, and I believe rainforests in particular are of vital importance given the climate emergency we’re already in. The rainforest might be geographically distant, but what we do really matters. In terms of impact – being aware of the environmental impact of what we buy is important for the planet and our own psychology, whether that’s making plant-based substitutions in what we eat, and avoiding or reducing ingredients like beef or palm oil that are directly linked to deforestation. Generally, reducing waste in our daily lives is something I’m really passionate about. Educating ourselves about the environment and nature so that we can support and amplify initiatives like Belum Temengor Forest Reserve and the important work of organisations such as the WWF and the Born Free Foundation, a charity I’m proud to be partnering with to support their work with endangered species in their natural habitats as well as campaigning for the welfare of captive animals and against illegal poaching or hunting of tigers and other wild animals.
This is also very much a story of bravery. Did you intentionally include that angle to ensure there was more than one message to young readers? I’m so glad you felt that too! I really hope that readers will relate to Hari’s emotional journey, as well as his journey to the Kingdom of Tigers. Bravery, resilience and having the confidence that you deserve a safe home where you can fulfil your potential – I think these are the most important traits we can encourage young readers to develop.
A particular issue on my heart when I was working on successive versions of the story was the migrant crisis. I have friends who crossed the ocean in small boats and came to this country as refugees (one of them, Chi Thai, is the author of The Endless Sea, which describes her experience in a really moving and evocative way) and other friends who volunteered in the refugee camps in Calais, and it was around the time of the desperate exodus of refugees from Afghanistan and Ukraine, so that was very much on my heart. Hari’s journey was really inspired by the courage of displaced people—including children, sometimes separated from their parents—who underwent incredible hardship and left everything behind in search of not just physical safety, but a home, somewhere where they could really belong.
The importance of dreams is very clear. Is this something you have always tried to hold on to yourself? The Kingdom of Tigers finding its home at Kumusha Books/Harper Collins is a dream come true! I’ve always loved telling stories. It felt like a rather distant and improbable dream for many years, but writing is so much fun, that even when I was only writing songs and sketches and holiday diaries to make my friends laugh and amuse my godchildren, I always hoped to write books.
Ultimately a story about these beautiful tigers only scratches the surface of the preservation needed around the world. How would you encourage young people to learn and do more for all those who need protection? Absolutely! Personally I think stories are a wonderful way of doing this. Picture books like There’s a Rang Tang In My Bedroom, King of the Swamp, Clean Up, Tidy and This Moose Belongs To Me are some of the stories we’ve enjoyed which share themes of sustainability, care for the environment and endangered species. Then there are non-fiction books—we’ve particularly enjoyed Nature’s Treasures with the gorgeous photographs for dipping in and out of at bedtime. And documentaries like David Attenborough’s Planet Earth series are a fascinating way of learning about different species and the plight many find themselves in today.
You’ve previously written poetry. Who did you write that for and what drew you to poems? I’ve always loved reading poetry and hearing it read aloud—and children’s poems in particular often work really well as songs! Julia Donaldson suggests singing your poems to see if the rhythm works. My primary school offered drama classes where we would choose poems to learn off by heart and recite, and we’d have lists of poets to choose from. The first ones I chose at age seven were Break, Break, Break by Alfred Tennyson and Daddy Fell Into the Pond by Alfred Noyes. I think I was going for a water theme! Learning how to analyse and decode poems was one of my favourite parts of secondary school, and I would copy out favourites by CP Cavafy, Margaret Atwood, Louise Glück and ee cummings into my notebooks. Poems are so much fun because you can do a lot with a little. Word choice matters, rhythm, rhyme, subtext, forms and themes all offer a way of expressing yourself. Poems can be subversive and extremely funny, they can make you feel a certain way and then stop to figure out why.
What is the ultimate message you would like young children and other readers to take from this story? I hope that like Hari, they have faith in themselves and follow their dreams. And I hope they have a sense of how important it is to have a safe home in order to do that—and everyone deserves a safe home. They do, children in poverty and displaced people do, and creatures like Hari do as well. A safe home means safety for everyone.
Will you be creating more picturebooks or will you return to poetry writing? I’m delighted to share that my next picture book will be published early next year by Little Tiger – actually in just a few months’ time for readers in the US and Canada. It’s another rhyming story, and it’s called YUM YUM DIM SUM. It’s a magical adventure that starts in a Chinese restaurant, about a girl who isn’t sure where she fits in with her noisy Chinese family. With the help of her favourite aunt and some oddly familiar animal friends, she goes on a quest to find all the dumplings on the menu, and finds her sense of belonging as well!
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