Christmas Crocodile

PreS-Gr 2 Alice Jayne finds a crocodile with a big red bow around its neck under the tree on Christmas Eve. The toothy beast proceeds to bite, gnaw on, or eat up whatever it gets near. Banished to the basement, the insatiable creature holds court as the entire family slips down to comfort it. Unfortunately, they all doze off, awakening to find that the house is a disaster. Having eaten the Christmas tree and all the presents, the croc is looking "alarmingly round." Just then the family discovers that it was delivered to the wrong address. Two men show up and take it away, much to the relief of everyone but Alice Jayne. Small's wonderful watercolor and pen-and-ink illustrations set the mayhem in a turn-of-the-century mansion, but the text simply doesn't match the energy of the pictures. This Christmas Crocodile is no budding star; Bernard Waber's Lyle at Christmas (Houghton, 1998) is funnier and more satisfying. LFBecker, Bonny is the author of 'Christmas Crocodile', published 1998 under ISBN 9780689815034 and ISBN 0689815034.