The Man-Eating Tigers of Sundarbans

By Sy Montgomery

Book Overview

Along the Bay of Bengal between India and Bangladesh stretches a strange and beautiful flooded forest. This enchanted forest is called the Sundarbans Tiger Reserve and is home to more tigers than anywhere else on earth. There are said to be some five hundred tigers here. Nowhere else do tigers live in a mangrove swamp. And nowhere else do healthy tigers routinely hunt people. Yet about three hundred people are killed each year by the tigers of Sundarbans. No one knows why. The Man-Eating Tigers of Sundarbans is a mystery story, but it is also a story about science and myth, about people and tigers, and about different ways of seeing the natural world. Sy Montgomery traveled to Sundarbans searching for answers to the mysteries surrounding these tigers. She listened to what scientists had to say about the unusual tiger behavior and to the stories of the villagers who revere the very animals who hunt them.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0618077049
• ISBN13: 9780618077045
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Harcourt Brace and Company
• Length: 64 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 9.1" x 11.4"
• Age Range: 10 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 5 to 7

Customer Reviews

A fine survey for any general lending library

SPELL OF THE TIGER: THE MAN-EATERS OF SUNDARBANS introduces readers to a mangrove swamp and tidal delta that lies between India and Bangladesh: the only place on earth where tigers routinely eat people. But the tigers here are revered by the people and not killed, as in other places. Sy Montgomery's fine analysis blends adventure, natural history and cultural insights to explore Sundarbans life and tiger protection issues in a fine survey for any general lending library.

This is a great book to give to my youngest grandchild

I have already read (and eventually bought )"Spell of the Tiger" also by Sy Montgomery, and notice she wrote this one with illustrations for young people. When I (age 71!) began to read it, it was like a ride on the boat and a walk in the Sunderbans itself. Sy certainly would enthrall a young reader. She describes the Sunderbans and the men and women who live daily with danger. She tells how the people do not hate, though they fear, the tiger, whom they honor as a god. Without the tiger, the forest would not exist. They believe the tiger is protector of the forest, and he is. I highly recommend the book and hope it is a success. The illustrations are beautiful, depicting the Bangladeshi and Indian peoples in a respectful and loving way, especially Girindra and Rathin and their wives.

Fifth Graders love this book!

This is a high quality non-fiction book. A portion of it was used on the MCAS ELA test. My class has voted to highly recommend this book!

Cool!

I never knew that there are man-eating tigers until I read this book.On an island off the coast of India where for some reason the tigers eat people. Scientists don't know why. This book is very interesting and I recomend it!

Mysterious

the subject is a tempting one to begin with: tigers who are seldom seen, but who seem to kill people whenever they like. Montgomery's powerful insight into this strange region of the world is that these killer tigers, revered by some locals as supernatural, are actually protecting the entire ecosystem from destruction. They are difficult to study scientifically, and take on an incredible air of mystery that is as compelling as the lush environment and the strange effectiveness of some of the local cult religions. A superb study.