Book

Bette Westera and Thé Tjong-Khing

Never Tickle a Crocodile

When Wrinklebeard the Robber Chief dies, his daughter takes over the family business

Robber Chief Wrinklebeard has two cheeky sons and a very obedient daugh­ter. On his deathbed he gives his children the following advice: do what you want, steal anything from anyone, but never tickle a crocodile. Only his obedient daughter does as she’s told.

The boys laze around, merely wave as the queen goes by in her coach, pay for their bread like everyone else, and then go off in search of a crocodile. But when they finally find one, it almost proves the death of them. Fortunately their sister arrives just in time to rescue them and turn them into good, obedient robbers.

Thé Tjong-Khing’s illustrations for this book are remarkable. In spite of the many witty details, the landscapes are spectacu­larly desolate: these robbers clearly live far from civilisation. Bette Westera has written a story in poems, with a quirky, back-to-front moral message, which could just as easily have been written by Annie M.G. Schmidt or Roald Dahl.

Bette Westera’s text, with its original rhymes, is particularly witty. Illustrator Thé Tjong-Khing beautifully captures the characters’ expressions.  

De Standaard

Never Tickle a Crocodile is beautifully cheeky. And funny. Children will lap up all that naughtiness. Both the words and the illustrations are flawless.

Cobra.be

Bette Westera

Bette Westera (b. 1958) is a versatile writer who creates modern fairytales, poems, picture books and realistic stories for children up to the age of around ten. After a short period as a primary-school teacher, she studied psychology. Bette now teaches people how to write stories for picture…

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Details

Kietel nooit een krokodil (2014)., 32 pages.

Illustrations

Thé Tjong-Khing

Age 6+
282 x 259 mm

Themes: picture book

Publisher

Gottmer

Zijlweg 308
2015 CN Haarlem
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 23 541 11 90
Fax: +31 23 527 44 04

E-mail:
[email protected]
Website:
http://www.gottmer.nl

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