I'D REALLY LIKE TO EAT A CHILD

Written by Sylviane Donnio

Illustrated by Dorothee de Monfreid

(Random House, 2007)


Sometimes a book's title is too perfect. When I discovered this book on a shelf in a toy store in Seattle, I knew it would make a most amusing addition to the collection I keep in the principal's office. (Runner up that day: Monsters Eat Whiny Children. Oh, how I'd love to meet the store's buyer!)

One clever young office visitor spotted the book and fought unsuccessfully to repress his grin. It was a command reading.


Achilles the crocodile is seemingly content to feast on bananas and the occasional chocolate cake until one day he stages a hunger strike. He wants to eat a child; nothing else will do. Mama and Papa Crocodile are distraught as their weakening offspring cannot be swayed. As they console one another, Achilles sneaks off to the river for a swim. Lo and behold, he spots a child! Dinner! Suffice it to say the hunt doesn't go as planned.


This amusing book provides an inventive way of supporting picky eaters. More than that, it's just plain fun. How can it not become a repeated read?