Alligators, Alligators

Roscoe's Tours doesn't just offer boat views of the alligators "down in the swamp, / where the river's warm/ and the air is damp." The company's operator introduces his young son Jim, both portrayed with brown skin, whose flute-playing casts a spell on the long-tailed reptiles ("The gators sway and sashay and one pirouettes./ They're cold-blooded killers acting like pets"). He next assures the vessel's amazed passengers, portrayed with a variety of skin tones, that the alligators aren't trained: "The gift of this music belongs to my Jim./ Animals gather to listen to him." But at the end of the tour, a pale-skinned passenger in a backward baseball cap snatches Jim's flute, hoping to sell the animals it lures ("endangered or not") to poachers--until the bond that Jim and his music have forged sees justice served in an unexpected way. Cartoon-style digital illustrations by U.K. illustrator Ewen portray the alligators as comical creatures with large, luxurious eyelashes. Lengthy, sometimes-plodding verse by Bunting (I'm a Duck) maintains a steady beat, powering this instructive, low-conflict fable briskly forward. Ages 4-8. (Aug.)

Hello Baby, I'm Your Mom 

Bunting's soothing rhymes are sure to be a favorite refrain. — School Library Journal

I'm a Duck

Bunting's singsong rhymes don't skip a beat. — Publishers Weekly

One Green Apple 

[A] gentle story about being new and different, with the author delivering her message in her classically subtle style. — Kirkus Reviews

Being Friends with Dragons 

In bright, cartoonish digital spot drawings, vignettes, and full-page illustrations, Ewen employs an assortment of patterns and textures to visualize the imaginative informational text. — School Library Journal