Children's Fiction Alligators & Crocodiles
Crocodiles Play!
- Publisher
- Tradewind Books
- Initial publish date
- Oct 2008
- Category
- Alligators & Crocodiles, Imagination & Play, General
- Recommended Age
- 3 to 5
- Recommended Grade
- p to k
- Recommended Reading age
- 3 to 5
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9781896580890
- Publish Date
- Oct 2008
- List Price
- $19.95
Classroom Resources
Where to buy it
Description
Crocs play baseball, basketball, golf and table tennis on the wrong fields and courts, using the incorrect equipment with no respect for the rules. A game of tag is played by crocodiles dressed in tennis shorts, soccer players play hide and seek, and foot-ballers play ring-around-the-rosie.
About the authors
Robert Heidbreder was born in Illinois but now lives in British Columbia. He has enchanted children with his joyful poems and rhymes for more than two decades. A former elementary school teacher (and winner of the Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence), he believes that children's love of silly and absurd combinations of words makes them natural poets. His books include Eenie Meenie Manitoba, Don't Eat Spiders, I Wished for a Unicorn, Drumheller Dinosaur Dance, Python Play, See Saw Saskatchewan, Crocodiles Say, A Sea-Wishing Day, Lickety-Split, Crocodiles Play, Shake-Awakes, Noisy Poems for a Busy Day, Black and Bittern Was Night and Song for a Summer Night.
Robert Heidbreder's profile page
Rae Maté illustrator of Crocodiles Say, and the sporty new sequel, Crocodiles Play! Rae Maté has always loved making pictures. She has been painting and showing her work professionally since she graduated from Emily Carr College of Art and Design in 1986 . Rae also enjoys teaching art to preschoolers, and she divides her painting time between her home studios in Vancouver and Hornby Island BC.
Librarian Reviews
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.
Source: The Association of Book Publishers of BC. BC Books for BC Schools. 2009-2010.
Crocodiles Play!
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.
Source: The Canadian Children's Bookcentre. Fall 2009. Vol.32 No.4.
Crocodiles Play!
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.Source: The Canadian Children’s Book Centre. Best Books for Kids & Teens. 2010.
