Review of Andre the Angry Alligator

[Korey Ann]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Andre the Angry Alligator" by Karen Shandley.]

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3 out of 5 stars

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"Andre the Angry Alligator" by Karen Shandley is a children's story with a great message about friendship and understanding other people's feelings. The main character, Andre, is an alligator who loves challenging other animals in the jungle. Even though Andre wins all the challenges, the other animals do not like being around him because of his attitude. However, things take a turn after a giant storm when Andre has to learn how to get along with the other animals. Although his relationships with the animals have a rocky start, they come to his aid when he needs them the most to face his biggest secret fear.

After reading this story with my 6-year-old daughter, we had mixed thoughts and feelings about the book. Although the idea was unique, the story was choppy and contained multiple errors, which made the book feel incomplete. The errors confused the story and made my daughter, and I scratch our heads. While we appreciated the central message of the importance of collaboration and empathy, we couldn't help but notice the need for improvement in the editing in order to make the story easier to read.

On the other hand, the book's positives included the delightful rhyme schemes and the illustrations. My daughter particularly enjoys it when there is rhyming in a book, and the colorful pictures bring the jungle and the animals who live in it to life. Also, coming from a very competitive family, I loved the idea of a book showing how easy it is to lose yourself in wanting to win above all else, even the feelings of those around you.

Overall, I give "Andre the Angry Alligator" by Karen Shandley a 3 out of 5 stars. The book is an excellent idea for a children's story but needs a little polishing and editing to receive all five stars.

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Andre the Angry Alligator
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[Kibet Hillary]

A competitive spirit is good, but indeed, as seen from Andre, there are always catastrophic consequences when one focuses on only winning and seeming to brag about it to the detriment of others. This is a book with a great lesson, for sure; thank you, @Korey Ann, for the review.