Funny and Fun!
Everyone knows there is nobody in this world who loves chomping, slurping and gulping down copious amounts of juicy watermelon more than a crocodile. At any time of day, any season of the year, any year of life, a crocodile (or at least, this crocodile) finds nothing so irresistible as a "big salty slab" of watermelon. Until... he swallows a seed. Will our melon-loving friend grow a garden of the things inside his tummy, or will he find himself changing into one, complete with vines, round belly and pink skin? The Watermelon Seed has kids laughing out loud (and perhaps overcoming their own seed-swallowing phobias) as they wonder what a watermelon-crocodile fruit salad would taste like.
The Watermelon Seed is a great example of how fun stories with few words and simple illustrations can be. I have a great time reading this book to my kids, and it doesn't take me half a hour to get through it, which I appreciate when it's 20 minutes past bedtime and I have a sink full of dirty dishes waiting for me. I remember wondering when I was a kid whether a watermelon would grow in my belly if I swallowed a seed, and I've had the same discussion with each of my kids. We just watched a Magic School Bus episode about it the other day, in fact, and the subject never ceases to fascinate them, even when they know the answers already. This book doesn't bother with the actual question of whether or not you will turn into a watermelon if you swallow a seed. And maybe that's why I like it so much. It treats the whole subject like a big, outrageous joke, which is exactly what it is. I think often kids (and adults) just need to learn to laugh at themselves and take their fears a little less seriously, and The Watermelon Seed helps celebrate that in its own way.
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