Mama Crocodile says baby brother is as green as a grub and has eyes as yellow as egg yolks. He eats up all his frogs and has such an adorable snout.
Caroline thinks he dribbles and smells. She couldn't even think about being more jealous, if she tried.
On this particular shopping day, while waiting for her mama to come back from the hat shop, the young, very, very jealous Caroline decides to swap her baby brother at the Baby Shop nearby.
The assistant obliges, offering Caroline a cuddly panda baby instead. Caroline is delighted. She takes the panda to brunch nearby but the panda ends up eating the bamboo table and chairs.
The shop assistant agrees to trade the panda for a baby elephant, but the size of the baby and an impromptu romp in the fountain nearby soon proves too much for Caroline. 'Too squirty,' she tells the Baby Shop assistant.
Things continue to go awry for Caroline, when she finally realises something special about her real baby brother.
The Swap is a true classic in the making--it's just so much fun, with gorgeous, warm text and the most divinely funny and adorable Andrew Joyner illustrations, that he does so well. The story has a fresh, modern vibe to it, yet a timeless, classic feel, too--both in illustration and text.
Warmly humorous to adults, young children will find this story immensely funny--Jan Ormerod had such a knack to delight children with her divinely kid-oriented stories, and this is one of my favourite Jan books, ever.
Great fun.
This beautiful book has been dedicated to the memory of author/illustrator Jan Ormerod (1946 - 2013) who left us far too soon.
Title: The Swap
Author: Jan Ormerod
Illustrator: Andrew Joyner
Publisher: Little Hare, $24.95 RRP
Publication Date: 1 October 2013
Format: Hard cover
ISBN: 9781921541414
For ages: 3 - 8
Type: Picture Book
