Alligator Ate My Brother FROM THE CRITICS
Children's Literature
This colorful picture book has a fun tone, but is unusually ambiguous for children's fiction. While Paul is waiting for dinner, his parents send him to check on his brother Jimmy. Jimmy is in the playroom being chased by an alligator. Paul's parents do not believe his report, and the reader cannot tell if Paul, the narrator, is reliable. Every time Paul reports another outrageous development in the alligator tale, his parents accept the news with polite comments implying that they do not want to squash Paul's creative stories. The illustrations clearly depict Jimmy being swallowed by an alligator in his room, but the reader is never sure whether these capture the real story or exist only in Paul's imagination? You could argue effectively for either point of view. Perhaps most confusing is the cheerfully amusing alligator that never seems to be a threatening carnivore. If this giant reptile were more intimidating, we could believe Paul's fear, but, as is, the book leaves the reader feeling totally ambivalent about the plot. I wonder whether children would find the story more or less frustrating than this adult reviewer? 2000, Caroline House/Boyd Mills Press, $15.95. Ages 3 to 6. Reviewer: Seth Berg
School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 3-Paul's mother, father, and bossy sister simply do not want to believe him when he tries to explain the chaos heard upstairs. When he tells them that an alligator has wandered into the house and is chasing his brother Jimmy, the whole family thinks that he is making up stories again. After the otherwise friendly looking beast swallows Jimmy whole, Paul rescues him. Together, they try to tell their parents that the alligator is real, but no one believes them until they hear a loud, "Slurp, slurp, slurp," and Lydia is nowhere to be found. The lively writing bounces off the pages, using lots of onomatopoeic words to describe the commotion made by the pesky beast. Lyon's active watercolor cartoons suit the mood of the text and make the alligator more funny than frightening. The illustrations are sometimes awkward and occasionally a bit off in their perspective, but their brightness and color catch the eye and will be good for group read-alouds. An amusing tale that is sure to be a crowd pleaser.-Toni D. Moore, Simon Kenton High School, Independence, KY Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
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