I'M NOT.

A timid, brown gator wearing a pink bow recounts all the things that her friend Evelyn, a bouncy, green gator, is where she is not: decorator, circus performer, explorer and snappy dresser (Evelyn wears Band-Aids with pearls!). “If Evelyn was a book, you’d read her all night under the covers to see what happened next.” Halfway through the story, their roles are reversed when the shy narrator claims all the things she can do and Evelyn can’t. The gator colors of brown and green cleverly contrasts their differences. The title page and bio blurbs typify the playfulness: “Not drawn by Pam Smallcomb; not written by Robert Weinstock.” These and other small details in the illustrations and the teeny print in Evelyn’s speech balloons make this hilarious. The droll artwork is “not rendered in watercolor or woodcut” but is subtle, terrific fun with James Marshall–like charm. This is not a stale but a fresh take on friendship/reassurance stories and is, for sure, not boring. (Picture book. 4-8)