WE DON'T EAT OUR NEIGHBORS

A young alligator must learn to control his urge to eat people.

Gator siblings Herbert and Libby move from the swamp to a suburban neighborhood when their mom gets her dream job as a pastry chef. They start wearing clothes, going to school, and even playing soccer. But Herbert has a big problem: He loves chowing down on people, and his classmates are so darn tasty! Herbert can’t stop gnawing on kids’ arms and legs. He just takes tiny nibbles, of course, but it makes him very unpopular. (His parents are vegetarians, and Libby is allergic, so she makes many friends.) When Herbert starts salting and peppering a boy who turns out to be the son of his mother’s boss, he realizes that his actions have consequences—he doesn’t want to ruin Mom’s job! Herbert decides to change his ways, and he even finds a good alternative to eating people: Mom’s human-shaped cookies. The title of this story may bring to mind Ryan T. Higgins’ We Don’t Eat Our Classmates (2018), which stars a lovable and equally destructive dinosaur who’s also wrestling with temptations. While readers may chuckle, poor Herbert doesn’t quite live up to the silliness of his dino counterpart, though the cartoon art does have an appealing, nostalgic, James Marshall feel. Human characters are diverse.

Decent, if a bit derivative.