When You Trap a Tiger

Lily notes that nothing about the library looks fantastical or scary despite her memory: “All that magic has faded” (60). The librarian, Joe, refers to Halmoni by name after Lily introduces herself. He says Ae-Cha was a “shock” to the town when she arrived and that he owes her, leaving Lily confused. A teenage girl approaches and introduces herself as Jensen when Lily asks about tiger books. Jensen shows Lily the staff room where she tutors language arts to middle school students and keeps plenty of snacks on hand. Jensen gives Lily a chocolate cupcake that Joe baked; Lily ignores the obvious allusion to Hansel and Gretel and eats it. Lily comments that it’s good enough to sell and notices Jensen light up.

The library only has two non-fiction titles related to tigers, and they are quite juvenile. Lily asks for tiger stories instead, hesitantly summarizing her favorite story about the tiger who eats a halmoni and chases her granddaughters. Jensen comments on the story’s likeness to Little Red Riding Hood, but Lily specifies her story being Korean. When Jensen comments on similar folktales from different cultures having “a mind of their own” in that “they are waiting for somebody to come along and tell them” (68), Lily thinks about how the stories Halmoni stole and locked up might be living things.