My 4 year-old daughter has a real problem with 'nasty' characters in books. They actually make her physically quiver in a way her pre-K teacher says she has never before encountered in a 4 year-old child. To give you an idea of what I mean, this child find Goldilocks and the Three Bears overwhelming and runs screaming to the hills at the mere mention of The Three Little Pigs. I have never attempted the Three Billy Goats Gruff as I'm not sure we could afford the therapy bills. As anyone who is familiar with Roald Dahl can probably imagine, this does not bode well for his books as they always consist of nice characters on the one side and unpleasant, unsavoury characters on the other. Although the latter inevitably get their comeuppance, the hope of ever reaching the point in the book at which that happens always seems dim. As you can probably guess, we imagined the Enormous Crocodile would be a complete non starter. However, when I explained that the crocodile was never actually going to eat or harm anyone in any way - cross my heart and hope to die - she agreed to give it a go. She loved it. The illustrations by Quentin Blake are fantastic and both she and her younger brother loved pointing out the crocodile in each picture when he is attempting to disguise himself as a wooden bench, a seesaw and a wooden crocodile on a carousel, whooping with laughter at how obvious he is ("silly crocodile!"). And the fact that he gets blasted into space at the end and 'sizzled like a sausage'? Well this was the funniest bit of the book bar none - go figure! - I don't think I'll ever understand children. ( )

With his "secret plans and clever tricks," the Enormous Crocodile desires to lunch not with but on a nice, juicy child. His croc companion, the Notsobig One, is the first to try to talk him out of his scheme, claiming children are no good to eat.

One jungle critter after another--from Trunky the elephant to Muggle-Wump the monkey to the Roly-Poly Bird--tries to prevent the Enormous Crocodile from carrying out his dastardly deed, but on he waddles toward the village. His clever tricks included disguising himself as a merry-go-round animal, a bench seat and a coconut tree.

The only problem is that besides being greedy and ill-intentioned, the crocodile is also nasty to his fellow wild creatures. This comes back to haunt him. And so, unfortunately for him, the animals have a few secret plans and clever tricks up their furry sleeves, too!

It is one heck of a tale. But the abrupt and rather too serious ending leaves me pondering the greatness that could have been.

Book Details:

Title The Enormous Crocodile
Author Roald Dahl
Reviewed By Purplycookie ( )

Love Roald Dahl's superb ideas and Quentin Blake's illustrations. Both are amazing. Really enjoyed this. ( )

A very cute children's book. Roald Dahl is an excellent children's author and creates books that are a little twisted, but not enough to scare children. He creates a wonderful and an interesting story (even if it is just a few pages long). ( )

I give this book a 2 star because it could have more details and more interesting words. ( )

Fabulous story about a nasty, mean, hungry crocodile with big ideas of 'tricks and plans'. Of course he gets his comuppance and no children get eaten. Dahl's get story keeps the children engaged and they love it. Lots of related activities on line. ( )

A deliciously evil character, the enormous crocodile has "secret plans and clever tricks" to secure some juicy children for his lunch. Blake's colored illustrations add to the humor. ( )

A delightfully humourous story by Roald Dahl, told in the manner of a fairytale or folktale, with great illustrations by Quentin Blake to emphasize the fun rather than the scary side of the story. A very hungry and arrogant crocodile schemes to catch a child to eat, but is repeatedly thwarted by the other kind jungle animals. Finally Trunky the elephant catches the crocodile and whirls him round with his trunk, and sends him flying off into the sun where he was "sizzled up like a sausage", to the delight of children everywhere. Not too scary for preschoolers: a fun story to read aloud, or for kids in grades 1 to 3 to read on their own. Recommended - we love all the Roald Dahl stories. ( )

Why can't the crocodile have at least one yummy child to eat? It's just not fair. ( )

I love Roald Dahl so I was very pleased to find this book. I read it to my seven-year-old since it is a picture book. He didn't love it and neither did I. It just seemed a little, I don't know, mean or cruel. And I do get Roald Dahl, really I do. I just didn't like this one so much. I think the Minpins is a much better choice for a grade-school aged child picture book from Dahl. ( )