Croc by the Rock

Jake finds what he thinks is proof of a crocodile in his local pond. He tells a man in a van, and the man sends his dog to take a look.

Children assemble in anticipation, to take photos of the scary, out-of-place creature. But what does the dog find? Only a ball – not a crocodile's eye at all. Jake goes back to fish later and this time he makes a catch – something that suggests he may have had a narrow escape.

Simple and in some cases oft-repeated rhymes make up this story that nevertheless rolls along pacily enough. The watercolour illustrations on textured paper work hard and are humorous – succeeding in lifting the story out of the humdrum.