This fun book features a young character with a rather out-of-the-ordinary problem. He actually wants to quietly read his book, but can’t concentrate because the tiger in the room keeps creating ruckus. From dressing up in a bear suit to be scary (as if a tiger needs that) to practicing his karate moves, the aptly-named Tiger just can’t seem to settle down.

His shenanigans are all brought to life by delightful, colorfully-printed words that mimic sound effects—from the "hi-yaaas" of his karate kicks to the "chomp, chomp, chomp" of his gum chewing. This is a great book for parents to read aloud to children, who will most likely want to join in to help make the sounds themselves.

The book is also interesting because the young boy grows impatient with Tiger much like a parent will when a child disturbs them while they’re trying to read or work. Little readers won’t want to wait to turn the page as Tiger is forbidden to chew gum, ordered to sit down, and even asked "Can’t you be quiet?"

After all the hoopla, Tiger finally discovers that the book his friend is trying to read might actually be interesting because it’s about—guess what—a tiger. So Tiger fluffs the pillow and settles in on the sofa with the boy, who finally does get to read his book. He ends up reading it aloud to Tiger.

This non-fiction book teaches middle-schoolers how to be independent by giving them strategies to solve problems. It is a Young Readers’ Edition of the internationally bestselling adult version "Problem Solving 101," also by Ken Watanabe. He’s a former management consultant who now runs his own education, entertainment and media company.

The book aims to help kids at that awkward middle-school age to tackle problems of the everyday variety. But in a larger sense, it demonstrates that similar strategies can be used to solve any kind of problem, even the larger ones facing the world today.

Attitude has a lot to do with the way anyone approaches a problem, the author emphasizes in the book. Chapter 2 begins: "Kids face some pretty tough challenges—the kinds of things that might cause most people to throw up their hands and give up. But problem-solving kids don’t give up."

Not only does this book emphasize the importance of independence and problem-solving skills, but it also teaches kids that if they can solve problems, they can also attain their goals simply by breaking "their big dreams down into smaller goals."

The book includes charts, graphs, and lists to help kids visualize the steps they need to take in order to get what they want.

It also has short, easy-to-read chapters with larger-than-normal type and lots of tiny illustrations to keep preteen or younger teen minds from wandering. It’s also fairly short in length so kids can get through it rather quickly.

Even adults could pick up a practical pointer or two from this one. RPM