CBC Hot of The Press August 2024 Pick
With art and text by Brad Sneed, this lift-the-flap picture book turns a mother and daughter into different animals as they go through their morning routine
Sneed’s hilarious story goes beyond the typical “After a while, crocodile!” call-and-response and introduces kids to wordplay, rhyming, and obscure animals. With three pages of fun facts about all the animals featured in the book, After a While, Crocodile is both interactive and educational.
Praise
Getting ready for school can be fun so “rise and shine, porcupine.” Follow a mother and daughter’s playful rhyming exchanges as they get ready for their day. Lift the page-wide flaps to see the daughter or mother portrayed as the animal mentioned in their conversation. Some flaps lift upward and some downward. Once the daughter is at school, a series of pictures across the layout reflect the passage of time at school followed by another layout showing the mother’s chain of activities during the day. The story comes to an end when the daughter comes home and the pair share rhyming greetings. A few creatures (i.e. binturong, okapi, and aye-aye) may be less familiar; however, the gentle colored illustrations lend support in identifying the animals. The text is in speech bubbles. The front end pages highlight the animals mentioned in the story; the back end pages also show the animals from the story and include brief descriptions. Children will enjoy the rhyming words, humor, and fanciful pictures. Teachers will probably like to include this in their read aloud collection.
—Children's Literature
