Open Very Carefully, by Nick Bromley & Nicola O'Byrne

You should do as the title of this book suggests: open very carefully, because what you find inside might surprise you – a crocodile! What is he doing there?

Wait a minute… Oh, no! He’s eating the letters of the story! This is no good; we can’t be having this. It’s a book for goodness’ sake! What can we do to stop him? Rock the book to see if we can make him fall asleep… Shake the book to see if he’ll fall out… Oh, gosh, now he’s going to try and eat his way out. Yikes!

Open Very Carefully is certainly an original idea, with lovely, bold illustrations, but I’m a little worried about where the crocodile has gone to now he’s escaped the book – what if he’s hiding under my bed?

I hope small children won’t find this book scary. I particularly like the interactive nature of the story – with the shaking and rocking of the book to help the crocodile on it’s way – and it’s a fun, fresh idea. I just hope that something a little friendlier will be able to sneak in through the hole the crocodile’s made – a fluffy bunny perhaps?