Ten smiley crocs riding on a tandem bike.
Ten smiley crocs riding on a tandem bike.
And if one smiley croc suddenly hits a spike,
There’ll be nine smiley crocs riding on a tandem bike.
Set to the rhythm of ‘Ten Green Bottles’, ‘10 Smiley Crocs’ follows the athletic and other antics of these crocs as one by one they meet with misadventure. But lest the reader fear they are lost forever, all crocs are reunited at bedtime, dressed in their pyjamas and getting ready for bed. Illustrations are comical and colourful.
10 Smiley Crocs is light and fun, full of wild antics for little readers to enjoy. It won’t take long before the familiarity of the tune will have them joining in the ‘reading’, and predicting what is going to happen next. These crocodiles are colourful and friendly-looking. For the most part their activities are exaggerated children’s antics although there are a couple of spreads where the action happens in a more natural environment ie ‘being sneaky logs’ and ‘swims back up the stream’. Recommended for pre-schoolers.
10 Smiley Crocs, Ed Allen ill Simon Williams Scholastic Australia 2014 ISBN:9781742836355
review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author and bookseller