Crocodile Listens

From School Library Journal reS-Gr 3-A crocodile waits and listens, ignoring the giraffes thumping by, the warthogs tromping, and the croaking frog that would make a wonderful snack. Finally, she hears her babies' cries and she digs them out of the sand so they can hatch. Using beautifully simple language ("Like an ancient dinosaur/with scraggly teeth-"), Sayre introduces information about the Nile crocodile while maintaining the immediacy of a story. Suspense adds to the narrative: "She has not eaten for weeks.-/Yet for some reason,/she only listens." Stammen's illustrations have an almost photographic reality at times, perfectly portraying the fierceness with which the mother guards her babies, and the gentle way she cracks an eggshell between her enormous teeth to help release the infant trapped inside. The animal sounds integrated into the text will make this a hit at storytimes, and an endnote gives additional facts about the Nile crocodile.