Crocodiles Play!

Robert Heidbreder and Rae Maté score another hit with this sports-themed companion to their earlier publication Crocodiles Say. Heidbreder’s crocodiles get ready for one sport or game, but end up using their equipment to play a different one. Maté’s humorous paintings perfectly illustrate this twist. Crocodiles playing ping pong with a basketball or tag with tennis racquets — sheer silly fun — is once again the result of this collaboration between poet and artist!

In 2008, Heidbreder won the Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize for his book A Sea-Wishing Day.

In Heidbreder’s new collection Crocodiles Play! illustrated by Rae Maté, the author returns with more reptilian romp. Here, Heidbreder hosts a rhyming croc-o-block celebration of sports. His seven poems double as riddles as they each describe a sport without naming what it is. Readers use clues presented in the text and those found in the artwork to guess which sports the croc jocks are playing. Can you guess which sport the following excerpt describes? “...They’re snappy Crocs / in cool outfits – / blue caps, new shoes / and well-worn mitts. / They pick a bat. / No more delay! / ). You probably guessed “baseball” and kids will likely do the same. But when readers turn the page to check their guess... what do they find? They discover a surprising answer and silly scenario in which crocs don baseball garb and use baseball equipment to play a sport that’s not baseball.

Heidbreder’s choice of strong verbs – “clamber,” “strut,” “dash” and “dodge”– are fun to say and exude the physicalness of athletics. His poems offer an accessible and entertaining way to introduce sports vocabulary to the six-and-under set. Rae Maté’s vibrant cartoon-style illustrations portray the silly yet affable crocs in all their toothy glory.

The book has earned the North Vancouver author a spot on the 2010 Chocolate Lily Book Award shortlist. (He won the award in 2006 for his picture book, Drumheller Dinosaur Dance.) In honour of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, Gold Medal Reading! has been designated the theme for TD Canadian Children’s Book Week 2009. So with that in mind, remember that: Crocodiles Play!/is an ideal way/ to celebrate Olympic fun/with kids from preschool to Grade 1.

This time around, the crocs get their athletic groove on. As kids use clues found in the rhyming text to guess which sports are being played, they will discover answers that have a funny twist. The poems feature strong verbs like “dodge” and “dash,” which are not only fun to say but heighten the action factor in this reptilian romp through sports.