Beware of the Crocodile
Written by Martin Jenkins
Illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura
Don’t be fooled by the lively illustrations in this great new book. It’s surprisingly informative and still a lot of fun. It’s not some outlandish tale about an anthropomorphic crocodile-like creature. The actions taken are real actions a crocodile might take. The focus is on two things – how a crocodile hunts and how a crocodile is born and grows.
Crocodiles are smart enough to know the places that animals come to drink water. They will lie motionless, with just the top of their heads above water, until an animal gets close enough to grab. They only need to feed again when they’ve digested the meat available on the caught animal. The mother crocodile lays her eggs in the sand and tends them, adjusting the number of leaves covering them to regulate the temperature. She then protects the small babies as best she can.
Of course, crocodiles really are scary, but the scariness in this book comes from real crocodiles, not cartoons. Recommended for classroom units on nature.
Title: Beware of the Crocodile- Author: Martin Jenkins
- Illustrator: Satoshi Kitamura
- Publisher: Candlewick Press, 2019
- Reviewer: Sue Poduska
- Format: Hardcover, 32 pages
- Grade Level: K to 3
- Genre: Nature
- ISBN: 978-0-7636-7538-7
- Extras: About Crocodiles, More Information, Index