Crocodiles Everywhere

A girl’s best friend has just moved away, and she’s really missing her. She suddenly starts seeing two crocodiles everywhere, one of them weeps for hours, and the other is loud and chaotic. She’s the only one who can see them, though, and now they are on her family vacation when she thought they wouldn’t be able to follow her there. She decides that the only thing left to do is talk to these crocodiles, and she finds that she feels a lot like them, sad and angry.

What I Liked: This book opens by introducing you to the little girl whose best friend is moving away and briefly states some of her feelings about this. While she says that she is missing her friend, she hasn’t really given herself the time or space to acknowledge those feelings and let them out, so that’s when these crocodiles come into her life. The little girl is at first confused by what these crocodiles are around for, and why one is crying all the time, and the other is so destructive. These crocodiles are her emotions come to life and help her learn the consequences of not dealing with your emotions in real time.

The illustrations in this book are cute and approachable, which helps to highlight to children that their emotions are not something for them to fear. The features of the crocodiles make them approachable, and while their size might be intimidating, it helps that they aren’t interacting negatively with the little girl.

Final Verdict: Crocodiles Everywhere is a fantastic book to teach children ages 5 and up about emotions and how those feelings might manifest in actions. This book does a great job of showing children how feelings are not threatening and that they are a natural part of our lives. Adults will enjoy how this book makes feelings accessible, and they will always resonate with the idea of feelings as crocodiles.