One Tiger One Teen — Pete Peterson

We'd put a circus tiger in a horse trailer and when its sedative wore off it turned into a real tiger. Kip Kellogg's not kidding. It's two weeks before the start of his senior year of high school and releasing a live tiger in the halls was supposed to be the teenager's ultimate senior class prank. Things had been going so great, because capturing a live tiger does wonders for a young man's confidence. His newfound boldness has him skirting around the edges of falling in love with Marie, a girl who on the surface counts as mysterious and exotic because she goes to a different high school, though she does have a few scars on her heart that the new romance may or may not make it past.But tigers are notoriously uncooperative - and the horse trailer doesn't hold it for long. The police won't help; as Dripping Springs Tigers alumni, they think the report of a tiger on the loose in the Texas Hill Country west of Austin is the actual senior prank. So Kip and his tiger theft conspirators enlist the help of Kip's grandfather to hunt down - or maybe capture - the tiger. Kip respects the danger of the animal, but something deep inside him knows this tiger should be brought back alive. When the team returns with proof, but not a dead tiger, the news spreads like a bar fight and soon every hunter with a box of ammo is in on the adventure to save Texas from its tiger problem. Marie joins the action, and good thing because soon it's down to just the teen couple to capture or destroy the tiger before any of the yahoos get themselves killed. Kip narrates the tale, but being a typical 17-year-old boy, he leaves out one critical detail in the telling - and his internal and external problems come to a head at the adventure's climax as Kip tries to handle his life's first big problem like the man he hopes to become. One Tiger One Teen is a fun action/adventure and coming of age novel that cuts to the heart of growing better as a person. It will engage older teens as a prescriptive tale about how to approach life and will captivate adults as a descriptive journey through those emotions and hopes of self-improvement that are not exclusive to the young. Fast-paced writing, strong on story progression and action, with doses of teenage humor and realistic dialogue, makes this novel an ideal gift if you're looking for young adult books for boys who don't like to read; and its fresh storytelling style will fire up seasoned book lovers who are looking for exciting, new, young adult fiction voice.