How Do Crocodiles Fly?

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Kelly the crocodile wants to fly. Day after day she floats in the river,
enviously watching the birds soar far overhead in the sky. “Can’t
SOMEbody help me?” she cries one day, but all the animals in the
forest are afraid of Kelly because, after all, she is a crocodile.
Finally, one brave little amphibian named Tilly Toad offers to teach
Kelly how to jump, because jumping is almost like flying. Unfortunately,
huge short-legged crocs jump about as well as they fly. Kelly lands
herself in trouble and all the animals of the forest have to pitch in to
help her out. This experience doesn’t teach Kelly to fly but it does
make her some friends, which pays off for them when a forest fire
threatens all the land animals and only Kelly can come to the rescue.

This book was awarded first place in the Canadian Authors
Association’s fiction contest. Although its format is professional
enough, both the prose and illustrations suffer from amateurism. Sylvia
Helen Vincent has a tendency to hobble her narrative with clichés,
while the characters in Heidi Vincent’s illustrations are often
awkwardly posed and out of perspective. Recommended with reservations.