At first I thought Joe having problems speaking would make the story worse, but instead it made it better, He's always seeing things no one else is and when he meets Corinna I think he finally realizes there is someone out there who sees the things too, someone who understands him, and everybody else in the circus understands him, and most of all the tiger understands him...but I won't say anything more, I might give away the book. READ THIS BOOK IT'S AMAZING!!! Don't forget to also read more of David Almond's books, Heaven Eyes, Skellig (as you can see by my email I'm kinda obsessed with these books), Counting stars and Kits Wilderness