I have a weakness for naughty crocodiles, so I loved this one about a crocodile that sets the narrator off track.

I'm not sure how I feel about a tutu and bow being used as an insult / device to make the male crocodile less scary... ( )

"The Ugly Duckling" is interrupted by a crocodile - "a really big scary one!" - and it's up to the reader to get it out. Funny and interactive, good for storytime.

See also: The Incredible Book-Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers; There's A Monster in Your Book by Tom Fletcher; Hungry Bunny by Claudia Rueda ( )

Summary: The narrator begins to tell the story of The Ugly Duckling when he sees something that doesn't look quite right: a crocodile in the corner of the page! The author instructs the reader to turn through the pages carefully and guides the reader through activities that will help the crocodile go leave the story.

I really liked this book for a few reasons. I think this is a really fun book for children who are just learning to read. I thought that the author made the concept and language of this book really fun and entertaining for kids reading it and they are also learning as they are reading. Instead of the author just saying that crocodiles bite and scratch, she made it fun for the readers by saying, “What’s he doing in this book? He might bite your finger or scratch your nose! Crocodiles like to do that. Stay back just in case…” Children are able to learn that crocodiles bite and scratch and that they could be dangerous so it’s probably smart to not go near them. They also learn about letters because the crocodile eats letters and his favorites are O and S. The author also included words that have these letters and she doesn’t include the O or S because they’ve been eaten, so she says, “st p! And Mr. Cr c dile, y u can’t eat the letter!”
I also really like the illustrations in this book. On each page you have the crocodile and the illustrator makes him large enough that people can see him from far away. When the author has the kids rock the book from side to side she includes arrows in her illustration so the kids understand how to rock the book and in what direction. With the text she has the words side under each arrow on each side of the page. I thought that was a cool feature because I feel not many authors would include arrows or have the text like that. When crocodile gets drawn on the illustrator draws a skirt, shoes and a bow on the crocodile but draws them exactly how a little would draw it and the picture looks like it was done with an actual crayon. When the crocodile takes a bite out of the book she actually had a hole in the last few pages of the book, which makes it realistic and fun for the readers.
This is just a fun book for children to read to learn about crocodiles and what they shouldn’t do. ( )