Magic Toyshop: The Naughty Croc

Willow and her little brother Freddie often stay with their Auntie Suzy, who owns a toyshop and makes stuffed animals from patchwork, known as Hoozles. They are gentle and charming, except for naughty old Croc. He always spoils everything. One day Jack enters the toyshop with his mum and requests an elephant Hoozle. Auntie Suzy agrees to make it, ready for collection by the end of the day. But Croc has other ideas and runs off with Auntie Suzy’s sewing kit. Willow and her gallant group of Hoozles – a bear, a pony and a penguin – pursue Croc, falling into all sorts of adventures along the way. The story, one in a series, is charming and its anthropomorphic gentleness feeds happily into young children’s imagination. The text is set in large print and divided into chapters, each of which ends with a cliff-hanger and is interspersed with simple line drawings.