Barbara Baumgartner

Storyteller and children's librarian Barbara Baumgartner presents six of her most popular tales in Crocodile! Crocodile!, a collection of international folklore that young readers are sure to find entertaining. From the opening two Indian selections about Crocodile and Monkey - the titular Crocodile! Crocodile!, and Crocodile Hunts for the Monkey - in which the clever primate is more than a match for his reptilian foe, to the cumulative Puerto Rican tale of The Squeaky Old Bed, these tales are made for reading aloud! Rounding out the selections are the Native American (Seneca) tale of How the Chipmunk Got His Stripes, the Chinese story of The Grateful Snake, in which a kind boy is rewarded by the snake-dragon he aids, and the Appalachian Sody Saleratus.

The cut-paper illustrations by Judith Moffat seem a little simplistic, and are not really to my taste (David Wisniewski is the master of this sort of thing), but the colors are bright, and the visuals will undoubtedly hold young readers' attention. I liked that there was a section on acting out the tales, at the end, with suggestions for making puppets. I also liked the fact that Baumgartner gives source material for her selections. All in all, an engaging, though by no means brilliant, folkloric collection, probably best suited for preschool and early elementary-school children.… (altro)