"It's funny immediately."--The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"Dorros [has] a genuine, offhand comic talent."--Kirkus Reviews
"In this zany story, the surprise ending carries an artfully-hidden message." --The Weekly Washington
When I was four and a half years old, my family took one of our first
long trips. We drove down the east coast to Florida. Somewhere along
the way, we passed an alligator farm. My parents thought I would like
to have my picture taken with the alligators. You can see the look on
my face as I noticed what big teeth they (the alligators) had. I didn't
particularly like way they were smiling. I thought they might make me
their lunch, or at least dessert. Fortunately they had just eaten.
Years later, I wondered about "alligator bags" and "alligator shoes,"
and decided to write a story not about a boy in the alligators' world as
I had been, but about an alligator in the world of humans. Strangely, I
once got locked in the front of a store--after I had written this book.
But that's another story..
My parents were generally very
thoughtful about keeping me safe. This seemed to be one of their few
lapses of judgment in that regard.
DO NOT MESS WITH ALLIGATORS. DO NOT
MESS WITH ANYTHING THAT HAS BIG TEETH!
