The Monkey and the Crocodile

A re-telling of an Indian fable, one of the Jatakas (tales relating the former births of the Buddha in a variety of animal guises). The theme is a universal one: the quick-thinking of the trickster outwitting the evil intentions of the attacker. Here, the monkey is tempted by tales of riper fruit onto the crocodile's back, but just when it looks like crocodile will get his longed-for juicy meal, monkey has other ideas.

The story is presented in dual-language (Bengali and English) and illustrated both with colour and black-and-white spreads. The English text reads aloud well, though the final sentence is something of an anti-climax and would have been better omitted. A welcome addition to the still too small collection of books for children (and their parents) who are literate in languages other than English.