Customer Reviews

The Christmas Crocodile

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Crocodiles do not conjure up images of a well-behaved pet! Alice Jayne sure tries to convince her eccentric family to keep a "puppy eyed" crocodile she finds under the Christmas tree. Our sympathy immediately goes out to the Christmas Crocodile who really "didn't mean to be bad." He sure gets into trouble in this book.

From page one, get ready to laugh at the adorable antics and pictures of less than amused family members. If the "Cat in the Hat" had been found under the Christmas tree, even he could not have created this much chaos! After gobbling down just about everything (a water bottle, candy canes, a Christmas roast, pumpkin pie, twenty-nine crumpets on the kitchen counter, a box of pralines, one fruitcake, five golden oranges, the left stove top burner, and a plate of ginger star cookies), the family locks the crocodile in the back room. They then retire for the evening.

What happens next can only be told by Bonny Becker and illustrated by David Small. We have copy which says: "For Alexia, Season's eatings!" signed by Bonny Becker! This is a magical book from start to finish. You don't want all this fun to ever end...and you know...it might just being again. Don't peak at the last page! This is the perfect gift for any child at Christmas time. They will enjoy reading it all year long.

~The Rebecca Review

I heard Daniel Pinkwater read this book on his Chinwag Theatre program. My family really ate it up! We cried crocodile tears-of laughter. It is really funny, and the illustrations are perfect too, with lots of personality and great details. My kids love the little dog, who is annoyed by the greedy but lovable crocodile, but Aunt Figgy is a close runner up. Alice Jayne's crazy relatives are a hoot, but the story has a real sweetness and generosity that kids and parents alike will appreciate. Everyone we have shared it with has loved it--young and old.

The Christmas Crocodile has been a big hit in our house. The wonderful story of Alice Jayne and her hilarious family are perfect with the illustrations. Our five year old loves the crocodile who eats his way through this eccentric family's Victorian Christmas. This is one Christmas story that will become a tradition in our house.

This book has been a big hit with my son. He asks us to read it two or three times per day. The story and pictures are great. The two main characters, Alice-Jayne and the Christmas Crocodile are very lovable. Alice-Jayne shows great concern for the crocodile, even as he consumes more and more of Christmas at every turn. The author does a great job creating wacky but believable relatives. The illustrations are very engaging. I especially like their detail. I feel that any children's book with intricate drawing will make the book enjoyable even after multiple readings. This book will become a tradition in our family.

This book is one of my all time favorite Christmas books. It is about a madcap family and a loveable crocidile. The illustrations are great reading after reading. The story is humorous and touching and fun for repeated readings. My kids love it.

Start a new holiday tradition by reading the Christmas Crocodile with your family. You'll laugh at the crazy antics of the eccentric family members and the crocodile who "didn't mean to be bad." This book is a winner from beginning to end and the illustrations capture the hilarity perfectly!

ISBN 0439104815 - Normally, I've got to read a book to know how I'm going to rank it, but this one was so very clearly original, just based on the cover, that I had high hopes for a 5 star book. Working my way through a shelf full of holiday books is turning out to be a pleasant experience and The Christmas Crocodile was a great start to the Christmas titles!

Alice Jayne found the Christmas Crocodile under the tree on the night before Christmas and, from there, the story gets a little wilder with almost every page-turn. The croc's appetite is bound to get him in trouble, as he eats everything in sight and the family debates what to do with him. Is it possible for the Christmas Crocodile to go too far? And is it possible that the family would miss him if he left?

Author Bonny Becker does a fantastic job creating an incredibly eccentric family and making a crocodile under the Christmas tree seem perfectly normal, but she couldn't have done it without illustrator David Small. Small's page-by-page visual demolition of the family's home is great, in part because he makes the croc look so innocent and as curiously happy as a kitten. Hilarious in both writing and images, The Christmas Crocodile still manages to have a nice Christmas-y message in there, too. Even if your child is old enough to read on his/her own, this is one for you to read aloud to them. Kids will roll on the floor and parents just might join them. Well worth picking up!

One negative note: the cover is standard paperback, but the binding of my copy is stapled, which makes it a bit flimsy and more likely to be damaged by little hands.

- AnnaLovesBooks

This book is hilarious. I bought it when a fairly generous employer gave me purchasing power at the wonderful Sam Weller's Book Store in SLC; I said I wanted to do book reviews as the books and readings editor for an online pub, but really I just needed books for my daughter and couldn't afford any.

I was surprised and pleased to see I liked it as much as my daughter, though I found I had much to explain as she watch me laugh till I cried. I could see this book being used in an adult western civ class...a person could read all kinds of things into it...about cultural appropriation, about egocentrism, about colonialism... I have two daughters now, and both absolutely love it, but sometimes I read it for myself and to other adults after the girls have gone to bed. The illustrations, by the way, are fantastic. If I were to suggest one Christmas book for kids, this would definitely be it. This is the one Christmas book I don't put away in January, but keep around all year.

This is a funny, quirky story about a girl who finds a crocodile under the Christmas tree. The illustrations are watercolors of a Victorian mansion, the characters are fun (most of them are sterotypes but funny to read in different voices) and the story is just very original. Children will enjoy the idea of a crocodile and it's antics, while adults will get the jokes that are probably over most kids' heads...including the last illustration without any words that ends the book with a last laugh. I would definetly reccomend this one!

My kids and I all love this book! The text and the illustrations perfectly complement each other, giving the story an old-fashioned feel and lots of humor. The quirky family members are a treasure. I highly recommend this fun story!