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Uncle Theodore is huffing, Aunt Figgy is fretting, and Alice Jayne is tapping her foot--pretty subdued behavior considering the fact that a hungry crocodile has just appeared under the Christmas tree. This eccentric family handles the mysterious reptile remarkably well, even though the beast seems to have an appetite as fierce as its legendary bite. The Christmas Crocodile tears around the house eating everything in sight, whether edible (a roast, five golden oranges, a pineapple upside-down cake) or inedible (a shoe, ribbons, a feather boa, earmuffs, and fruitcake). The family is divided over how to best deal with this unexpected guest. Send him to an orphanage? Pack him off to the zoo? Make him into a pair of shoes? "He's nice," said Alice Jayne. "Maybe we could keep him." Just when it seems the crocodile has eaten all he can stomach, the family awakens to discover that he has consumed nearly all the presents and the Christmas tree too! The one uneaten gift holds the key to this toothsome tale, as well as a surprise that will have kids smiting their foreheads in gleeful anticipation of more mayhem to come.
Author Bonny Becker has crafted a rollicking reptile romp, with an apologetic refrain--"The Christmas Crocodile didn't mean to be bad, not really"--to which children can surely relate. David Small, creator of the Caldecott Honor-winning The Gardener, accompanies Becker's spritely, funny text with equally amusing, expressive illustrations that will have youngsters poring over this book long after the last present has been unwrapped. (Ages 4 to 8) --Brangien Davis
From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 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.?LFCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The New York Times Book Review, Judith Viorst
Becker's zany tale is wonderfully complemented by Small's witty drawings of a grand, old-fashioned house inhabited by Alice Jayne, her dotty relatives and one house- wrecking crocodile with a very expressive face.
From Booklist
Ages 4^-6. The crocodile that Alice Jayne finds under the tree is quite a surprise. As the story's refrain keeps reminding readers, the crocodile doesn't mean to be bad but . . . Before Christmas day dawns, the crocodile has eaten the eccentric family out of house and home, including chowing down a number of items that aren't exactly food. Yet the crocodile elicits a certain amount of sympathy, until he wrecks the living room and eats the presents--except for one, and from that gift the family learns that the crocodile wasn't meant for them at all. He is taken away to a reptilian petting zoo, and everyone is happy except for Alice Jayne. Children will laugh as the crocodile cuts a furious path through the family mansion, which is populated by a number of madcap relatives. In keeping with the story's tone, the pictures' linework is less precise than Small's usual style. Here, the watercolors, lined in heavy ink, are sprawling, exuberant, and filled with lots of clever details. The unique characters, all of whom Small captures to a tee, fit perfectly into this marvelous mania. Ilene Cooper
Book Description
On Christmas Eve Alice Jayne finds a crocodile under the tree. The Christmas Crocodile doesn't mean to be bad, not really, but soon he is eating everything in the house, even the Christmas tree! "Send the beast to Africa," huffs Uncle Theodore. Aunt Figgy thinks he should be put in an orphanage. "Maybe the zoo?" suggests Father. But Alice Jayne wants to give him a home. Will their Christmas survive if she does Readers' appetites for humor will be well satisfied by this rollicking holiday treat.
Card catalog description
A very hungry crocodile is mistakenly delivered to the wrong address and thoroughly disrupts the Christmas celebrations of Alice Jayne and her family.
About the Author
One Christmas morning, many years ago, Bonny Becker found a dachshund puppy with a big red bow around his neck under her Christmas tree. He promptly chewed up a slipper. He joined a family of six children, two eccentric parents, and abundant love and chaos. Somehow, many Christmases later, it all resulted in the story of the Christmas Crocodile. Bonny now lives in Seattle with her husband, two daughters, and a new dog, who also likes slippers...and ginger cookies and toes and...This is her second book for children.
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