I’LL LOVE YOU TILL THE CROCODILES SMILE

The creators of I’ll Love You Till the Cows Come Home (2018) offer another entry in the love-you-forever genre that’s more fantastical than sickly sweet.

Rather than farm animals, this book features jungle creatures: kayaking crocs, rhinos striking dynamic poses “on a fancy float with sparkly bow,” and chimps sneezing due to “clouds of globe-trotting fleas.” The gentler rhythms of the rhyming text and the ending partially balance the adrenaline jolt of the outlandish situations; a look at the various species bedding down or relaxing for the night returns bedtime readers to the calm and familiar. “I will love you forever and forever and more… // as the giraffes sway slowly on a swing beneath the stars, / swishing softly through the moonbeams / up to Mercury and Mars.” Litten’s mixed-media digital illustrations play up the humor; the snakes wear tiny helmets (safety first!), the baby boars’ antics will elicit chuckles from readers of any age, and many parents will envy the giraffes’ spa day. While a few word choices make a couple of the situations nonsensical (the elephants are “stuck in traffic by the rubber tree plants,” though actually they are next to the plants, waiting for the sloths to cross the road), young readers likely won’t notice.

A refreshingly creative bedtime tale—and a solid choice for those who march to their own drummers.