I'd Really Like to Eat a Child »

Sylviane Donnio began writing her first children's book at age eight, and stopped after about a dozen lines, promising herself to try again when she was bigger. After studying public law and becoming the mother of three children, she has kept the promise she made to herself. I'd Really Like to Eat a Child, originally published in France, is her first book for the American audience. She lives in France.

Dorothée de Monfreid began to write and illustrate her ideas with colored pencils back in grade school. Now that she is bigger, she makes her career as an author-illustrator, writing stories published in France about cats, bunnies, elephants, stinky monsters, and even cake. She lives in France.

A scrawny little crocodile wants the opportunity to bite off more than he can chew. He's tired of bananas; today he'd like to eat a child. But he's smaller than he thinks, and the little girl he chooses for his first meal puts him in his place—she picks him up and tickles his tummy! The little crocodile is going to have to eat a lot of bananas and grow a lot bigger before he can add children to his menu! Simple yet hilarious artwork brings this droll story to life.

Publishers Weekly

When an adorable crocodile named Achilles scorns his mother's bananas and makes the startling announcement that gives the book its title, young readers may experience a frissonof tension, since they clearly wouldn't want to become a crocodile's breakfast themselves. In de Monfreid's double-page spreads, which suggest the horizons of prowling reptiles, Mama and Papa Crocodile proffer sausage, then chocolate cake in an effort to distract Achilles from his purportedly inappropriate craving. But Achilles heads for the river, where he discovers a girl alone on the bank. "Yippee! Finally, I'm going to eat a child," he thinks. "He crept up slowly and bared his beautiful teeth . . . " Achilles, next to the girl, barely reaches her knee; even the "RAAH" that comes out of his mouth is pint-sized. "A teeny-tiny crocodile!" she exclaims. "He's awfully cute!" Humiliated, Achilles slinks home to munch on bananas, vowing to grow big enough and strong enough to achieve his goal. The appetizing mixture of domestic breakfast concerns and fierce child-eating monsters will leave children hungry for more. "I'd really like to read that book," parents may hear them say. Ages 3-6. (Apr.)