Snappy Birthday by Laura Ellen Anderson

When a very special invitation arrives at number 24, the children are filled with excitement. A birthday party? What fun!

But their next door neighbour is not all he seems. For a start, he has a large snout and very sharp teeth not to mention scaly skin and an incredibly long tail...

Yes, there's no two ways about it - their neighbour is most definitely a crocodile! Erm, crocodiles don't eat children, do they?

An energetic, laugh-out-loud picture book.

 

I received this book from the publishers for an open and honest review.

Star Rating

With a particular love for lengthy chapter books, my Year 2 class haven't wanted to read many picture books this year. However, when Snappy Birthday turned up in the post they were desperate to read it that very day and the upshot was... they loved it! 

One day a birthday invitation turns up at number 24. The children are invited to their neighbour's house for tea and who doesn't like a party? So off they set to the house next door where they discover a CROCODILE standing tall. Throughout the story, the crocodile chases the children and tries desperately to eat them. My class weren't sure if this was a game or whether the crocodile was really a villain. Eventually we discovered that this was indeed an evil crocodile. How would the children escape?


This book was fun, colorful and beautifully illustrated. The rhyming was well done and added to the flow of the story. Humorously, my class this year have a thing for cake. Many suggestions are related to cake. When asked what we might call our reading groups, one boy suggested cakes. I wasn't convinced that the 'carrot cake group' was the best name for it. With this cake infatuation in mind, my class were particularly delighted when the crocodile was stopped by "THE BIGGEST CAKE YOU HAVE EVER SEEN."
 
I should add here that the children wanted to give this book 4 1/2 stars. The 1/2 star was taken away because the front cover and blurb "gave the game away". One little boy was particular adamant that this book would have been much better if the crocodile had been a surprise, and I must admit I completely agree with him! Another child suggested that there should have been some other scary creatures at the party such as monsters and trolls. So we ask you kindly Bloomsbury, any chance of a part two??