I wanted them to stop behaving like such nut balls. Did I delight in the freedom they express with their yackety-yacking and their wig wearing? No.

I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since the image of the alligator pushing a child might entice smaller children.Īm I the only person in the world who finds Maurice Sendak books to be a bit creepy? I remember reading this book when I was a kid and thinking What is the deal with these alligators? This family dynamic is all messed up! Well maybe my three-year-old self didn't articulate it quite that way, but deep down I was put off by the instability, the sheer anarchy I believed these alligators represented. “Alligators All Around” is a brilliant book about learning the letters of the alphabet in a creative way that will have many children enjoying this book for a long time.

Parents should tell their children that it is not nice to push other children around and therefore, children should not imitate the image of the alligator pushing the children so often. Parents should know that there is an image of a small alligator pushing a human child when the book approaches the letter “P”, which is “Pushing People” and parents might be a bit uncomfortable with having such an image presented to a young child who can easily imitate anything. The images that truly stood out in this book were the images of the three alligators themselves as they have tiny black dotted eyes and have humorous expressions on their faces whenever they are doing something crazy in this book. Maurice Sendak’s illustrations may not be as colorful or realistic as his popular books “Outside Over There” or “Where the Wild Things Are,” but they are extremely creative as the characters are a family of three green alligators who are shown doing crazy antics that are representing the letters of the alphabet. Maurice Sendak comes up with some creative and hilarious verses to teach children the letters of the alphabet such as “A: Alligators All Around” and “D: Doing Dishes,” as he simply uses two words to describe each letter of the alphabet, making the book easier for smaller children to understand the concept of the letters of the alphabet. Maurice Sendak had out done himself in this clever book about learning the alphabet through creative phrases. “Alligators All Around” is a brilliant book about teaching the alphabet in a creative way that children will love for many years. “Alligators All Around” is apart of the popular Nutshell Library by Maurice Sendak and it details a family of alligators showing the audience about learning the alphabet through various humorous phrases.

Alligators All Around by Maurice Sendak