As a digital subscriber, you’ll receive unlimited access to Horn Book web exclusives and extensive archives, as well as access to our highly searchable Guide/Reviews Database.
To access other site content, visit The Horn Book homepage.
To continue you need an active subscription to hbook.com.
Subscribe now to gain immediate access to everything hbook.com has to offer, as well as our highly searchable Guide/Reviews Database, which contains tens of thousands of short, critical reviews of books published in the United States for young people.
Thank you for registering. To have the latest stories delivered to your inbox, select as many free newsletters as you like below.
No thanks. Return to article
(3)
K-3
Illustrated by
Nicola O'Byrne.
"Once upon a time, there was a mother duck..." A bird narrator is interrupted by a crocodile, whose every move the bird describes: "It looks as if he's had enough of this book"; "He's eating the letters!" etc. The droll illustrations are the lifeblood of the story's meta-ness, especially when the bird instructs readers to draw on the crocodile.