The premise of 2022 picture book Crocodile Hungry (written by Eija Sumner and illustrated by John Martz) is nicely simple, and summed up in the title: there’s a crocodile. It’s hungry.
This leads to a series of fun scenarios in which the crocodile acts kind of like a human (especially a kid) who has the appearance and hunger of a crocodile. In other words, he checks the fridge, rejects everything there, and goes to the farmers’ market…where he scares EVERYONE away.
He then goes to a grocery store, where, despite a moment when he “performs acrobatic feat to reach cart,” he scares EVERYONE away.
He next visits the community garden, where people try to run him out…and he wasn’t enjoying the spinach anyway.
He gives up, gets “hangry,” and starts crying “crocodile tears.” He cries for weeks, creating a pond, where flamingos come to live. He thinks about how hungry he is, and there’s nothing in the pond but these bright pink birds, which leads him to a realization: it’s time to order a pizza!
There’s a lot to enjoy here, from the complete chaos of the market and store to the anticipation and threat toward the flamingos–and a twist. The images are simple and colorful, and fit the story.
Some elements left me a little confused, though: if he can order pizza at the end, why not weeks early, pre-pond? Hangry is very modern, but crocodile tears old (and indicates false emotion, when he’s supposed to really be hungry and frustrated). I couldn’t tell why he couldn’t just eat the food people left behind at the market and store.
So, some strings left untied. But a good, fun book.
