A message-driven animal tale that successfully engages readers while also instructing them.
In Lee’s illustrated chapter book, a family of crocodiles travels from Africa to England to expand their horizons.
The author returns to the world of anthropomorphic animals, this time in a transcontinental adventure that explores what it means to be human—even for members of other species. The story opens in an unnamed African village on the banks of the Sillibilli River, where a family of crocodiles, led by the very large Mr. Crocodile, sits down to an elegant high tea with human village leaders and an astonished “Great White Hunter.” A flashback explains how Kita, a villager, persuaded Mr. Crocodile, formerly known as Sandbank, that he was “a Person” and therefore it’s inappropriate for him to pull other people into the river, even for fun. The high-tea tradition grows out of Mr. Crocodile’s new understanding of his personhood, and when he learns that the hunter, Henry Henderson, has been targeting crocodiles elsewhere, he insists on inviting him to tea to establish their common personhood. Mr. Crocodile informs the astonished hunter that, because he’s had dreams of a friendly English boy named Thomas, he and a group of crocodiles plan to travel to England. Mr. Crocodile and his companions soon arrive in London’s Crouch End area, where they meet Thomas and quickly charm his neighbors. However, it becomes clear that Henderson plans to abuse and exploit the crocodiles during their stay. Mr. Crocodile’s resentment grows, but when he runs into a gnu, he interrogates his own assumptions about who counts as a person. He has an epiphany, and soon organizes a multispecies event to demonstrate the concept of equality.
Lee presents a story that’s highly readable and often charming, and its didacticism doesn’t overwhelm the story. The text’s frequent, idiosyncratic use of capital letters (“I will give you as fine an English High Tea as I can manage which we will enjoy together as fellow Persons,” says Mr. Crocodile at one point) adds a flavor of antiquity to the prose, which also effectively contributes to its arch tone. It’s also enhanced by the fact that the book is not at all subtle in its messaging, as when Mr. Crocodile criticizes an atlas that refers to a river as “crocodile infested” and asks Thomas if it would be fair to call Crouch End “INFESTED BY HUMAN PERSONS,” which the boy agrees is indeed inappropriate. However, the book’s subtitle, which refers to the story as a fable, adequately prepares readers for its message-driven approach. Mr. Crocodile’s big reveal will remind readers that it was the African villagers, not Henderson, who taught him about personhood. That said, the book does not fully grapple with Europe’s relationship with Africa. Also, Mr. Crocodile’s enthusiasm for tea and wearing top hats—as depicted in Hunkeler’s realistic, painterly full-color illustrations, which depict major events throughout—may remind readers of Jean de Brunhoff’s stories of Babar the Elephant and their colonialist overtones. Still, it’s a cohesive story that generally overcomes such flaws.
A message-driven animal tale that successfully engages readers while also instructing them.Pub Date: May 14, 2025
ISBN: 9798218306120
Page Count: 84
Publisher: Lwl Books
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
We challenge anyone to read this and keep a straight face.
Four misunderstood villains endeavor to turn over a new leaf…or a new rap sheet in Blabey's frenzied romp.
As readers open the first page of this early chapter book, Mr. Wolf is right there to greet them, bemoaning his reputation. "Just because I've got BIG POINTY TEETH and RAZOR-SHARP CLAWS and I occasionally like to dress up like an OLD LADY, that doesn't mean… / … I'm a BAD GUY." To prove this very fact, Mr. Wolf enlists three equally slandered friends into the Good Guys Club: Mr. Snake (aka the Chicken Swallower), Mr. Piranha (aka the Butt Biter), and Mr. Shark (aka Jaws). After some convincing from Mr. Wolf, the foursome sets off determined to un-smirch their names (and reluctantly curbing their appetites). Although these predators find that not everyone is ready to be at the receiving end of their helpful efforts, they use all their Bad Guy know-how to manage a few hilarious good deeds. Blabey has hit the proverbial nail on the head, kissed it full on the mouth, and handed it a stick of Acme dynamite. With illustrations that startle in their manic comedy and deadpan direct address and with a narrative that follows four endearingly sardonic characters trying to push past (sometimes successfully) their fear-causing natures, this book instantly joins the classic ranks of Captain Underpants and The Stinky Cheese Man.
We challenge anyone to read this and keep a straight face. (Fiction. 7-11)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-91240-2
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
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