Once in a while we jump in on the KidBookBuzz.com Blog Book Tour and today we are checking out the very sweet, dad-focused tale of fun Summer imagination Crocodaddy by Kim Norman, illustrated by David Walker.
Early readers and picture books are the hot thing at our house right now – right next to crazy creatures and water-related good times. So, Crocodaddy ended up rated a huge hit by the 4-year-old crowd – which is no easy feat.
I really love this story with its awesome sense of imagination and something our tiny person loves about life with her daddy – there’s always room for some serious makebelieve.
Honestly, I’m so happy that it’s focused on Dad because as a kid I developed an irrational fear of water I couldn’t see to the bottom of (a well-intentioned life guard used to tell us that there were sharks in the 20-foot deep end of the indoor public pool) and I could not get through this story without thinking that I would NEVER be the one to get in the lake with her.
But, since the kid is entirely fearless, Crocodaddy didn’t phase her one bit. In fact, we’ve spent a fair amount of time fighting off the relentless requests for the beach and crocodiles, questions about why there are no crocodiles on Vancouver Island and where we can go to check out crocodiles and finally the 4-year-old crocodile pretending to hide in the “lake” of the living room.
Any story that can evoke weeks and weeks worth of imaginary play gets full marks from me. Any story that connects kids to their dads in a fun, silly way gets full marks from Ken.
The author, Kim Norman, is a fairly new writer on the scene and her style is great. You can check out all of Kim Norman’s work and more at her website. Illustrator David Walker makes the book into a sweet journey of Summertime that I really loved.
And, you too can check it out for yourselves as I have a copy of Crocodaddy to give away this morning.
Just drop us a note here about your favourite Summer memories by the water and be entered to win for the pin-the-tail-style drawing.
Check out what other bloggers on the tour had to say: A Christian Worldview of Fiction, A Mom Speaks, A Patchwork of Books, All About Children’s Books, Becky’s Book Reviews, Booking Mama,Cafe of Dreams, Dolce Bellezza, Fireside Musings, KidzBookBuzz.com, Looking Glass Reviews, Maw Books Blog, Never Jam Today, Olive Tree, Our Big Earth, Reading is My Superpower, SMS Book Reviews, The 160 Acrewoods, Through a Child’s Eyes
MEET AUTHOR KIM NORMAN
Author Kim Norman’s first picture book, JACK OF ALL TAILS, was released in 2007. CROCODADDY, makes its grand debut in May.
She is looking forward to the release of two titles in 2010: I KNOW A WEE PIGGY WHO WALLOWED IN BROWN, illustrated by Henry Cole, and TEN ON THE SLED.
Kim is active in community theater and her church’s music program. She lives in Virginia with her husband, (the REAL Crocodaddy), two sons, a dog and a cat.
One of my favourite summer memories is paddling the Anessi and the Jessandi (wooden kayaks made by a certain reader’s grandfather) around in the Comox harbour. After dinner when the tide was up we would launch the boats off the beach and gain a whole new view of Mack Laing Park where we also spent many summer days!
Jessi totally stole mine!! But I guess I should just be happy we share the same good times
Those wooden kayaks provided so much fun in the summer time. We used them for most of our teen years progressing from just going a few feet of shore to travelling to the end of Goose Spit for summer evening picnics.
Goose Spit and the beach in front of my gran’s were where most of our summers were spent, I am definitely a beach girl at heart!
LOL! I love that my cousin/summer babysitters were the first two people to respond – those kayaks and the beach in front of Gran’s were some of my favourite memories too:-) Part of a dock floated over there one year and someone anchored it down so that we could jump off it into the water.
My family and I also used to spend most of our Sundays over on Tree Island. My sister and I would spend hours playing in the water, finding geoducks (gooey ducks) and making crab houses out of rocks, sand and shells.
My favourite summer memory is taking the large inner tube down to Jungle Beach on the Queen Charlotte Islands and floating around the ocean catching the odd wave and dreaming of floating to Japan or wherever our imagination would take us. Of course we were being reminded not to go too far out. We often had thoughts of a tsunami coming when we saw a large wave in the distance.
Robin, what a great post. It’s so cool to hear how the target age responded to the book. And everything you said reinforced a quote I included from an educator about children and repetitious reading. I liked this book, but what you’ve said here increases my respect from what Kim Norman and David Walker accomplished.
Becky
My favourite summer memories are from when my cousin would come to stay with us. We would spend our days going on long exploratory bike rides and take out about a hundred books each from the library. Bike rides and reading . . . actually I think those are still our favourite hobbies!
Thanks Robin. What a great review.
I am sorry you had such a lifeguard. Bummer.
I don’t need a book, I have a copy to give away on my own blog.
But my favorite summer memory is swimming in the ocean with my dad before he taught me to swim by myself. He was a lifeguard when he was a kid (one who never told shark tales, I’m sure) and he was a strong swimmer and used to take me out on his back and dive under the waves.
My favourite summer water memory is the summer I turned 8, it was my family’s first trip to Canada. I remember being in awe taking the ferry across to the island (for a kid who grew up in the Middle East this was quite spectacular),and then we hit Rathtrevor Beach. My sister and I decided then and there that it was the most beautiful place on earth. The following summer we moved to Parksville.
Thanks Robyn for another great book we can add to our summer reading!!!
My favourite summer memories include Kitty Coleman beach. My cousins, my brother and I would turn those rocks over for hours on end looking for any critters not quite quick enough to escape! Then we would splash in the waves to cool off, as we got older we would wait for windy days to try a little body surfing! Somehow it is not all that appealing to come home with sand and bits of seaweed in places it shouldn’t be for me -but my boys don’t seem to mind!!
Your description reminds me of my summer water fear……and Comox Lake
Just as I jumped off a log and into the water I SAW THE HUGE MOUTH OF A GREAT WHITE SHARK COMING UP FROM THE DEPTHS TO GET ME!!!! (Yes my father took us to Jaws) I scrambled out of the water as fast as I could and then identified the “MOUTH” as a tire on the bottom……it really did look like a mouth though.
My favorite summer memories… would have to be at “the River” about 40 minutes from our house. We’d look forward to those river trips all summer – an hour’s worth of lazy floating downstream, rope swings, rocks to jump from, and lots of opportunity for friends and family. I spent the day there for my birthday this summer – and it was just as awesome as ever. *grin*