THE WATERMELON SEED

A watermelon-loving crocodile worries over a swallowed seed in this balmy tale.

Juicy endpapers of watermelon pink draw readers into this playful tale about a crocodile and his favorite fruit. Oh, how this friendly little croc adores his watermelon. But when he accidentally eats a seed, it’s an emergency! The silly reptile frantically envisions the consequences of growing a melon inside one’s belly, until his stomach responds. With a large belch, the seed is dislodged, and the croc happily swears off watermelon—until the next delectable slice. The illustrations, done in a graphic, flat-color style with simple linework, recall the cheerful stylings of Ed Emberley and Roger Hargreaves. While Pizzoli uses the computer to arrange his compositions, he takes extra care to hand print the pieces. Done in a three-color printing, the silk screen offers a toothiness to the page, giving fruit, animal and emotions more substance. However, the ingenuity of Pizzoli’s work is in the making of the images, rather than in the story itself, which is about as substantial as, well, a piece of watermelon.

A humorous vignette with deliciously bright colors that leap from the page. (Picture book. 3-5)