[.ca] Counting Crocodiles (ISBN 0152001921)

From Amazon.com:
Counting Crocodiles may feel familiar to you, perhaps due to its folktale roots, maybe because Will Hillenbrand's artwork is so marvelously, comically, stylistically perfect, or perhaps because the delightful rhyme is so much like that of Lewis Carroll or Edward Lear. Here's a sample: "On an island in the middle of the Sillabobble Sea / lived a clever little monkey in a sour lemon tree. / She ate lemons boiled and fried, / steamed, sauteed, pureed, and dried. / She ate lemons till she cried, / 'I'm all puckered up inside!'" Meanwhile, Hillenbrand's full-page illustrations provide unending delights. In the first, most lemony of spreads, the snail is holding a whole lemon in her mouth, the fox has a glass of lemonade, and the lemon tree is laden with a blender, juicer, rolling pin, peeler, spatulas, and pans. The monkey looks suitably soured by the whole state of affairs. On the second page, the monkey spies a banana tree on a similarly deserted island. Of course, she craves a few of these fine fruits. And she wonders aloud how many crocodiles there might be in the Sillabobble Sea. One crusty croc emerges to imply slyly that there are so many crocs that she could easily walk on their backs to the banana island, and invites her to count them. She counts them: "... one crocodile with a great big smile, / Two crocs resting on rocks, / Three crocs rocking in a box, / Four crocs building with blocks," and so on, until she counts "Ten crocs dressed like Goldilocks." Impatiently, the rascally reptiles ask her how many of them there are, she stalls, she counts them again, and lo and behold! in all the splashing and cavorting, the monkey (with the help of the fox and the snail) gets her bananas! This is one of the most delightful picture books around! (Ages 4 to 8)

Interesting Things Happen in the Sillabobble Sea!:
As a mother of a 3 year old daughter and an early childhood educator, this is probably my most favorite book available. The story revolves around a monkey who spies a banana tree on an island across the way and tricks the crocodiles into making a bridge for him to go over and retrieve some bananas. Each page is very colorfully illustrated and is told in a very catchy poetic form. Through the story you count crocodiles from one to ten and back again. The book is short but puts a smile on your face all the way through. This story is excellent for teaching values, sequence in stories and in counting, and is a great introduction to crocodiles. A huge fan of The Crocodile Hunter, my daughter finds this story entertaining, and is one of the only stories she asks me to read over and over. It's nice because this is one of the only stories I like reading over and over!

Grown-ups will love it, kids love it more!!:
When we borrowed this from the library, we read it several times per day, and my kids were begging to keep it when it was time to return it. Now we have to buy a copy for ourselves, plus one for a gift. The rhymes are better than clever--maybe even brilliant! With the catchy rhythm, this was easily the most fun book I've ever read with my kids. My four-year-old daughter was soon reading it to her brother, with the help of the fantastic illustrations. All in all, a very fun book that will thrill young and old!

One of our favorite books!:
We LOVE this book! We have read it over and over again. My daughter (age 4) can't get enough of it. I read it to my niece and now she has her own copy and asks to have it read nearly every day. We bought a copy for our preschool teacher and she reads it to her classes. The rhymes are fun for the kids to hear (and the reader to read!) and there are never ending surprises in the illustrations. We've been reading this book for a year now and it isn't old yet!

Counting Crockodiles:
Counting Crockodiles is a great book. My 3 year old loves it. It is his favorite book. We read it EVERY night before bed. The pictures are colorful and the animals keep his attention. He likes that the words rhyme. He looks at it so much I am ready for another copy.

An Instant Hit!:
This was an instant hit with my 2 and 1/2 year old nephew. He loved the "eyes" in the water in the illustrations at first reading of the book. Then he pointed out more and more things on each page that he noticed as it was read. Wonderful illustrations on each page. And I loved the message of outwitting the crocodiles! Very neat book.