THE COLORFUL WORLD OF REPTILES

A rollicking revue of the cold-blooded clan, from the “fun-size” dwarf crocodile to the king cobra—a “boss-level video-game baddy.”

“Ready to croc and roll?” Taking on the role of jovial tour guide, Sewell follows up The Colorful World of Dinosaurs (2018) with a gallery featuring 51 living representatives of the ancient class. Leading young viewers past lively, expertly painted images, he offers glib lines of easily digestible comments on reptilian habits, habitats, and distinctive physical features. He confines visible gore to discreet drops of blood and, a few glimpses of scary teeth aside, depicts most of the creatures with closed, even smiling, maws. Notwithstanding occasional references to, for instance, the bearded dragon’s “nutcracker jaws” or the way a saltwater crocodile “bites through bones like biscuits,” his intent seems more to entertain his audiences than to shock or titillate them. And rather than pose his solitary subjects hunting, chowing down, or even in natural settings, he generally just hangs them at revealing angles on blank pages with minimal accessorizing to show off their broad range of sinuous or blocky body types and skin textures and patterns.

A lighthearted once-over, with appealing illustrations.