Crocodiles are the Best Animals of All by Sean Taylor

This book is really fun and corky because all of the animals are talking and competing with each other throughout. I like that the book starts and ends with the donkey saying, "nothing is better than being a donkey". Throughout the whole book, the crocodile thinks that he is a better animal than everyone else because he can do all the same things that the other animals can do. It is comical to see the crocodile climbing through the trees like a donkey and hopping like a kangaroo. The author personifies the animals through the lawn-mowing rabbits and the snow-skiing goat. It looks like the words are splattered at random throughout the page to make this book more appealing to young children. The colors of the pictures are also very child-like. Throughout the story, the author gives a pattern of rhymes. This makes the story flow like a song which is enjoyable to the ear. It is funny in the end, that the crocodile finds out that he is not better than everyone because he does not have ears to wiggle like a donkey. Even though the crocodile has been defeated, the last picture shows all the animals together hanging out as friends. Something that the reader can take away from this story is that each individual has his/her own special qualities and none make him/her better than another. This would be a good book for very young ages to be read to before learning to read. It is very short and has lots of fun pictures, but also has difficult words throughout.