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Summary
Summary
What would you do if you were settling down for a quiet bedtime story and you realized that a crocodile had fallen into your storybook and was -- not to put too fine a point on it -- wreaking havoc? Would you slam that book shut and cram it back onto the bookshelf? Or would you be brave enough to peek?
Author Notes
Nick Bromley works in educational publishing. His collaboration with Nicola O'Byrne and Nosy Crow on the words for Open Very Carefully is his publishing debut.
Nicola O'Byrne was banned from watching Saturday morning television by her parents and she has been drawing ever since. She grew up in Singapore surrounded by the vibrant colors of the tropics and had not even heard of illustration as a career before she discovered the Illustration course at Edinburgh College of Art. She has a masters in printmaking from Camberwell College of Art. Nicola O'Byrne gets most of her ideas for children's books when she should be working on something else, and bases all of her characters on people she knows. She lives in Los Angeles.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-While readers can detect a degree of rowdiness from the gaping crocodile snout on the cover, the book opens with a gentle, if flippant, start to "The Ugly Duckling" and a pat illustration to match. But barely one sentence in, the story is interrupted by the tail of a crocodile who breaks down barriers between readers and the story as he tears through the pages and makes short work of the text, "I think his favorite letters to eat are O and S. St p! Mr. Cr c dile! Y u can't eat the letter!" The narrator, the odd duckling, tries to keep things under control and asks readers to help until the crocodile finally finds his own way out by munching a hole in the back pages and cover. Bright reds and yellows, active line work, and plenty of white space create high energy and allow for the croc to interact with text and with the audience. This bold book will be effective as a group read-aloud, but some of the jokes will work well one-on-one, allowing children time to explore what the crocodile does with story and text. While there are many interactive books like this available and some are more notable, kids will enjoy this lively, fast-paced story.-Julie Roach, Cambridge Public Library, MA (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
This metafictional attempted telling of "The Ugly Duckling" gets derailed when a louche crocodile intrudes and starts consuming the narrative from the inside ("Now he's gobbling up... whole words and sentences!"). Aided by the mousy gray duckling, the alarmed narrator tries to save the story, even enlisting readers' help to lull the crocodile to sleep or shake him from the book's pages. This is a lively read with many prompts for interactivity and a format that makes it a good choice for both lap reads and preschool circle time (it's hard to imagine the child that won't laugh when a giant pink crayon swoops in to give the sleeping croc a tutu and ballet slippers). Debut author Bromley stumbles with the wrapup to his self-referential story, closing with a weak "Where do you think he'll turn up next?" Regardless, O'Byrne's crocodile is a personable antihero-she underscores his disruptive nature by drawing him in a brash, aggressive style that contrasts mischievously with her soft, storybook duckling-and her integration of typography and action is consistently ingenious. Ages 3-up. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Once upon a time, there was a mother duck..." A bird narrator is interrupted by a crocodile, whose every move the bird describes: "It looks as if he's had enough of this book"; "He's eating the letters!" etc. The droll illustrations are the lifeblood of the story's meta-ness, especially when the bird instructs readers to draw on the crocodile. (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A crocodile doesn't belong in "The Ugly Duckling"! But how to get it out? A scribble over Hans Christian Andersen's name on the title page is only the first sign that the classic tale's been hijacked. A few page turns later, the cozy scenes of ducklings have been replaced by a smiling croc, who gleefully proceeds to chow down on favorite letters ("St p! Mr. Cr c dile!") and even sentences. Maybe shaking the book or pulling out that ever-handy purple crayon to draw a tutu on him will make him leave? A little red-capped gray cygnet acts as narrator, guiding readers through the story. Along with providing interactive opportunities, Bromley and O'Byrne dial down the danger--"He might bite your finger or scratch your nose! Crocodiles like to do that"--and at last let their comical croc escape by chewing a hole (die cut into the last page and back cover) in the last page. But: "Where do you think he'll turn up next?" A blandly nonthreatening alternative to Emily Gravett's Wolves (2006) and like encounters with metafictional characters. (Picture book. 5-7)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
A bucolic retelling of The Ugly Duckling gets derailed when the book is invaded by a hungry crocodile. What's he doing in this book? asks the red-capped ugly duckling. From there, things get meta. The crocodile begins gobbling up certain letters, leaving the duckling to shout, St p! Mr. Cr c dile! After the croc begins snarfing up entire sentences, the duckling implores the reader to rock the book from side to side good, now the crocodile is asleep. But after the duckling draws a tutu on the crocodile with a crayon, the green interloper tries to run away, only to smash up against the side of the page. Is there any other way out? Yes and it'll take a little audience participation to bring it about. This most recent entry in the self-relexive picture-book canon finds a comfortable niche between the brain-busting of Mordicai Gerstein's A Book (2009) and the cute literary investigation of Mo Willems' We Are in a Book! (2010). A clever way to get kids thinking about the infinite possibilities of stories.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2010 Booklist
