Title: An Alligator’s Hide: or Just Come Clean
Author: Adrienne Harrell
Publisher: XlibrisUS
ISBN: 978-1-5245-8849-6
Pages: 32
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Reviewed by: Beth Adams
Pacific Book Review
In author Adrienne Harrell’s second book about Lily, titled An Alligator’s Hide: or Just Come Clean, the 10 foot alligator who lives as a house pet to a family, she tells the tale of a series of antics and coincidental experiences brought to the imagination of children young enough to have their silly bones still ticklish. Adorably illustrated by artist JoelRay Pellerin, Lily is brought to life as the flower-eating gator who thinks she is more of a family pet than a reptile. The interleaved illustrations bring focus to the fanciful characters without which the storyline itself would be hard to imagine.
Tag, you’re it! As the kids play with Lilly outside when a policeman comes to claim Lily and bring her back to her rightful owners. But in the turmoil of eating hot dogs and other distractions, such when Lily accidently tears the end of the trousers of the policeman, things defuse and everyone goes back to their frolicking activities. The children play “pirate” with each other and Lily, as they decide to lick on temporary tattoos – this has a foreshadowing of events yet to come.
When the policeman returns with two ladies who really want to make shoes and handbags out of Lily’s hide, they see the tattoos and decide the leather is ruined for their need, so they abandon their quest to have Lily returned and everyone is left alone to once again play, eat, swim and pick flowers. Nothing can be more alien to a human family than a 10 foot alligator, so the acceptance of Lily into the family illustrates the moral of non-discrimination to those who look and are indeed different. As Lily is safe to have around, because she does not eat meat and is a vegetarian, the kids find her to be the most favored friend to play with.
A bedtime story, now a part of a series, Lily’s books will no doubt be the first go-to-book children will pick from their bookcase to have read to them. Adrienne Harrell embeds a nursery-rhyme poem into her book, which is so wacky and funny kids will love the story. The combination of absurdity having an alligator as the main character, humorous and benign events, along with the imaginative illustrations make An Alligator’s Hide: or Just Come Clean a synergistic work a masterpiece of the illustrated children’s book genre.
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