What Does Little Crocodile Say? (Little Crocodile #1)

In this story told largely in sounds, the first day of school is an aural banquet for an expressive bright green croc in rosy-red overalls. The day begins with familiar home onomatopoeia (“The zipper goes zzzt”), but when confronted with a new environment, the crocodile clings to its mother and emits a sound of its own: “WWWWAAH!” (Adult readers will note that the croc’s caretaker sheds a few earnest tears, too.) Happily, though, an attentive elephant teacher, new friends representing a panoply of species, and a wealth of sound-rich classroom activities (“The trumpet goes Pah-Pa-Rah,” as the class marches behind their tireless teacher) convinces the protagonist that school is cool. Montanari’s economic, softly textured pencil crayon drawings and intimate, inventive vignette framings (a bird’s-eye view of multispecies nap time is endearing and funny) provide plenty to linger over, and deliver the gentle persuasion that reluctant, or sensorially sensitive, preschoolers need. Ages 2–5. (June)