CORNELIUS

There are visual and thematic echoes of lots of old Lionni books (and others) in the story of little crocodile Cornelius, who walks out of his shell upright—but, contrary to fable-precedent and picture-book practice, Cornelius isn't brought down for being different from other crocs. Quite the contrary. When they scoff at his boasting, he stalks away and boasts to a monkey: "I can walk upright. And I can see things far away." Retorts the monkey: "I can stand on my head. And hang from my tail." So Cornelius, an eager sort, gets the monkey to teach him his tricks. And when he's mastered them, he returns to the other crocs—who go right on scoffing ("So what?") at his ability to stand on his head and hang from his rail. But he's no sooner turned around than they're "falling all over themselves" trying to do the tricks too. A neat little turnabout, simply pictured in jungle-patterned collage.