The Greedy Crocodile by Sally Morgan

Walker Books, 2012. ISBN 9781921720659.
(Age: 8 years +) The Greedy Crocodile is a beautifully illustrated collection of short stories and a companion title to The Flying Emu. The author, Sally Morgan, was brought up in a family where storytelling was a regular part of life and through the book she hopes to share this pleasure with younger readers.
While the stories in the book are not traditional indigenous ones, they nevertheless have an essentially Australian flavour. Greedy crocodiles, fat wombats and dingos feature alongside magic and spirits from the rivers and sky. The author was told some of these stories as a child and the ideas for others have come from her children, nieces and nephews. All the stories contain a moral lesson for the reader to consider. The boy who nearly wished his life away learns the hard way to be careful what you wish for and the proud goanna becomes a victim of his own vanity.
The stories are all reasonably short but younger readers may find the text a little too sophisticated to manage alone. However, they will delight in hearing them read out loud and hopefully will enjoy them enough to become storytellers themselves one day!
Tina Cain