Illustrated by Caldecott Winner David Small
Simon & Schuster, 1998 Reissued Two Lions Press, 2016
Hard Cover Picture book, 40 pages

When Alice Jayne finds a crocodile under the tree on Christmas Eve, her family goes into an uproar! The Christmas Crocodile doesn’t mean to be bad, not really, but soon he is eating up Christmas—from the dinner roast to the left stove-top burner…even the Christmas tree! Everyone has an opinion about what to do with him.

Uncle Theodore suggests they send him to Africa, Father recommends the zoo, and Aunt Figgy mentions an orphanage. But Alice Jayne thinks the Christmas Crocodile deserves a real family. Can she find him a new home? And will she and the family survive till Christmas morning, with that naughty crocodile gobbling up everything in sight?

New York Times Book Review 
Every holiday is marked with a new batch of picture books straining to say something original. This is not an easy task, especially at Christmas, when writers often feel compelled to deliver yet another rendition of that estimable message, ”Peace on earth, good will toward men.” But the naughty team of Bonny Becker and David Small have opted for mayhem over tranquility in their outrageous and hilarious book ”The Christmas Crocodile,” in which Alice Jayne finds an irrepressible crocodile under the tree on Christmas Eve. Becker’s zany tale is wonderfully complemented by Small’s witty drawings of a grand, old-fashioned house inhabited by Alice Jayne, her dotty relatives and one house-wrecking crocodile with a very expressive face. As already noted, the Christmas Crocodile didn’t mean to be bad, but I am happy to report that at the end of this captivating book he is just as voracious as ever, having learned absolutely nothing about good manners or self-control.