by Moe Zilla

Created on: February 22, 2010

This book has exactly 52 words - and 26 amazing drawings. It's an "alphabet book," in which each page represents things that start with a different letter of the alphabet. But the drawings (and the text) are by Maurice Sendak - which guarantees wild surprises. And the book's title reveals how he'll work in magical monsters this time - since it's called "Alligators All Around."

That's the "A" page, of course - but there's also alligators throughout the book. On the "B" page, the youngest alligator is Bursting Balloons, and the "C" page finds him Catching Colds...with his mother. That's the book's special joke: the alligators lead very domestic lives. The mother alligator wears a long coat (and a fancy hat with feathers), while Father Alligator wears a stylish derby...

They never speak, but they often smile - and their family life begins to seems cozy. In the first "all around" picture,  the family strolls in the sun (on two feet), each alligator closing their eyes with pride, the mother's fingers tucking contentedly around her husband's arm. The "D" picture finds the father and son Doing Dishes - while the mother, wearing an apron, is Entertaining Elephants (by holding a serving tray with a bag of peanuts...held at trunk level.) And the book's title page  even features the proud alligator parents as they're showing their son the letter "A" in his own book of the alphabet.

It's those smiles that set the book's tone - and in the G picture, the family is even Getting Giggles. Sendak's found a way to make this surprisingly compelling - like a secret second story. What will those alligators get up to next?  They're Imitating Indians. Making Macaroni. Ordering Oatmeal... The activities are ordinary (and occasionally playful), but there's still a mystique to their lives, since - after all, they're still alligators. And each drawing offers another tantalizing glimpse,

They're Riding Reindeer and Wearing Wigs. The words are surprisingly clever, but the drawings even more-so, since Maurice Sendak illustrates each activity with a deadpan familiarity. He's being matter-of-fact about magic - which you can do when you're a gifted children's book illustrator. It shares themes with another book he wrote one year later - "Where the Wild Things Are" - since both books match scary animals with a sassy, rebellious youngster. It's just that in this book, they're not even a separate species.

It's just alligators all around...

Learn more about this author, Moe Zilla.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.