FICTION

The Crocodile and the Scorpion

by Ed Emberley
EMBERLEY, Rebecca & . illus. by authors. 32p. Roaring Brook/Neal Porter. 2013. RTE $17.99. ISBN 9781596434943.
COPY ISBN
PreS-Gr 1—The Emberley duo's brilliant and bold cut-paper style perfectly suits this fable about a scorpion and a crocodile who agree to be friends though "neither of them had the slightest idea of what this really meant." The Emberleys give their readers a succinct and telling description of this unlikely pair, each a dangerous predator cursed with a pea-sized brain. The scorpion pitches the idea of friendship to the crocodile so that he can hitch a ride on his back across the river. Each swears that during the crossing they will not harm the other. Neither can manage to keep this promise and they sink to the bottom arguing about which of the two is to blame. This is an appealing fable about the perils of promises and the challenges of friendship. Educators will snap it up.—Jenna Boles, Greene County Public Library, Beavercreek, OH
A scorpion convinces a crocodile to give him a ride across the river, and, because it's his nature, stings him halfway across. The crocodile bites back, and the two continue to fight as they sink to the river bottom, where "you can hear them arguing still." Electric blues and greens predominate in a muddled retelling of an often-modified fable.
Reviewed by Jenna Boles , Nov 01, 2013

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