The Tiger Project
Susanna van Essen

Macmillan 2003
164pp., pbk
$14.95
0330364294

That night Bella dreamt about the baby thylacine. Its minuscule wrinkled eyelids forever closed, never having seen the world outside its mother's pouch - eternally deprived of life, like the rest of its species. In her dream Bella became the curled foetus in the specimen jar. Dead before she even had a chance to live.

One day at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Bella Brown, a crippled teenager, was spellbound by a baby Tasmanian tiger preserved in a jar of alcohol for a hundred years.

By seeing this jar Bella had no idea how many questions it would provoke.
Why would her best friend like one twin and not
the other?
Can you control your genes?
Why does the world need so much protection?
Why is life so complicated?
What’s the meaning of life?
What’s the point in cloning an already extinct animal, when it was humans who caused the extinction in the first place?
How can you tell if a boy likes you?
And is there a right time to pass away?
I thoroughly enjoyed this breath taking book and I strongly recommend it for people of the age of 11. If you like a book of wonder, love, growing up and letting go, then this book is perfect for you.

Susanna Van Essen is a better than average author with good ideas and a strong knowledge of her setting and subject.
This book is definitely worth getting caught with a torch reading under the covers. An unquestionable 9 out of 10.

Alex, age 12 Barham, NSW