Open Very Carefully: A Book with Bite

PreS-Gr 2—While readers can detect a degree of rowdiness from the gaping crocodile snout on the cover, the book opens with a gentle, if flippant, start to "The Ugly Duckling" and a pat illustration to match. But barely one sentence in, the story is interrupted by the tail of a crocodile who breaks down barriers between readers and the story as he tears through the pages and makes short work of the text, "I think his favorite letters to eat are O and S. St p! Mr. Cr c dile! Y u can't eat the letter!" The narrator, the odd duckling, tries to keep things under control and asks readers to help until the crocodile finally finds his own way out by munching a hole in the back pages and cover. Bright reds and yellows, active line work, and plenty of white space create high energy and allow for the croc to interact with text and with the audience. This bold book will be effective as a group read-aloud, but some of the jokes will work well one-on-one, allowing children time to explore what the crocodile does with story and text. While there are many interactive books like this available and some are more notable, kids will enjoy this lively, fast-paced story.—Julie Roach, Cambridge Public Library, MA