Mr Croc is not friendly (Just Like Mr. Croc - Jo Lodge)

Member Name: arleek

Product:	Just Like Mr. Croc - Jo Lodge
Date:	22/08/09 (56 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good Pop-Ups

Disadvantages: He tries to eat you

I'll be honest and say this is not a book that I would go for if I was shopping for books for my daughter (who's 2 ½), because there is no particular storyline and it is a pop-up/moving parts book which always have the potential to be pulled apart by my youngest daughter.

Anyway, we had taken this out from our local library recently and it is now one of her favourites. On the last 3 visits to the library my daughter has continuously asked for Mr Croc and I have never had a clue what she has been going on about but have methodically searched the shelves with no luck... until last time. And the way her little face lit up when I showed it to her was priceless.

Now I don't know how she knows it was called Mr Croc because I have never seen it before, but I can only assume that the librarian has read it to her (they sometimes come and chat to the children and look at books with them) and told her the name of the crocodile, and it's obviously had a lasting impression on her.

So onto the book itself. It's called 'Just Like Mr Croc!' and is by Jo Lodge.

There are 6 double page spreads in the book and each one is a 'pop-up' with Mr Croc doing some sort of action. The text on each page starts off with 'Mr Croc says...' and then it states what he is doing, and on the first page he is nodding his head so it says 'Nod your head. Just like me'. He also blinks his eyes, touches his toes, plays peekaboo, waves his hands...and snaps his jaws.

The way the pop-ups are constructed make them move when you open and close the book. For instance, on the page where he is blinking, his eyes open and close. On the page where he is touching his toes, his toes move up and down and so does his head, to give the impression he is touching his toes.

These are very cleverly done and it's this that my daughter loves the most about this book, the fact that Mr Croc moves, especially when his eyes close - that is her favourite part. But the downside of this is that the parts are easily pulled off and Mr Croc's head on the first page has actually been ripped (not by my children but by someone else before us) so sadly he doesn't nod his head anymore, it looks like he has been decapitated, which is a shame.

The actual 'story' is okay but I'm not keen on the way Mr Croc pretends to be your friend by getting you to copy him, but then at the end tells you to run because he is more than likely going to eat you. That's just cruel! But this is lost on my daughter and all she cares about is the pop-ups.

The book is very appealing to look at, from a child's point of view, because it very simply done with just a few colours (mainly red, yellow, green, blue and purple). Each page has a plain solid colour in the background and then obviously in the foreground is Mr Croc and that is all you get on each page. The focus really is on Mr Croc moving. Mr Croc looks like a very friendly crocodile (but we now know he is not!)

I wouldn't describe the book as a board book, the version we have is hardback but each page is thick cardboard rather than board so is quite durable, but as I said earlier, there is the danger of the parts being pulled off.

So I can recommend this as a fun book because it really is a hit with my daughter, but if you have a destructive child (like my youngest daughter) then you should probably give this a miss because it won't last!

RRP £6.99 but currently available on Amazon for £5.24.

Summary: Fun book for young kids