- Picture Books
- Ages 4–7
- Animals
The Enormous Crocodile
Part of the Roald Dahl universeOpen the collection
The best younger-reader Dahl gateway: a picture-book-sized comic villain story about a crocodile trying to eat children and being outwitted by animals. It is very readable and funny, but the child-eating threat needs careful sensitivity calibration.
- Best for4–7
- FormatPicture
- Length64 pp
- Read aloud~13 min
The vibe
What it’s like.
Style
- Repetitive
- Conversational
- Comedic
Tone
- Funny
- Silly
- Dark
- Exciting
Themes
Experience meters
What’s it about?
The story.
The Enormous Crocodile is very hungry, and what he would like most for lunch is a nice juicy child. He has secret plans and clever tricks, but the other animals are not fooled. Again and again, the Hippopotamus, the Elephant, Muggle-Wump the Monkey and the Roly-Poly Bird step in to stop him. The Enormous Crocodile is a short, bold Dahl story for younger children, with Quentin Blake's lively colour illustrations making the villain feel ridiculous as well as dangerous. It is a strong read-aloud because the premise is simple, repetitive and satisfyingly theatrical. However, it is not a purely gentle picture book: the crocodile repeatedly tries to eat children, and his punishment is harshly comic. Best for children who enjoy naughty villain humour and can handle exaggerated danger.
Fit check
Right for your child?
Where it lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- Best fit · 4–7
- Read aloud · 4–7
- Independent · 6–8
Prose load
Light
Visual support
High
Reluctant-reader friendly
Very
Read-aloud quality
Excellent
Works well for
- Reading aloud
- Reading together
- Gift-buying
- Reluctant readers
Preview before sharing if a child is sensitive to: scary imagery, violence.
Bedtime suitability
2 / 5 · Better outside bedtime
Sensitive-child
3 / 5 · Mostly fine
Graphic intensity
2 / 5 · Mild
Best for
- First dahl
- Younger dahl
- Comic villain
- Read aloud picture book
- Animal teamwork
Avoid if
- Sensitive to child eating threat
- Needs gentle picture book
- Prefers kind animals
- Sensitive to harsh punishment
Particularly good for children who are…
- Reluctant reader
- Nightmares or fears
In the classroom
How it works in school.
Roald Dahl's gleefully nasty crocodile romp — a brilliant read-aloud with repeating tricks to follow and join in with.
A book children love that happens to support school — never a stand-in for the texts a class is taught with. Reviewed for the classroom · June 2026.
Why it lands
Why they love it.
Why kids love it
The specific thrill is the disguises — the crocodile as a coconut tree, a see-saw, a picnic table — and the fun of being just ahead of the children in the story, who can't see what we can. A four-year-old reads it tense and giggling in equal measure. The picture book that thinks it's a thriller.
- Surviving danger
- Animal companions
- The underdog winning
- Trickery and cleverness
- Making a difference
Why parents love it
The shortest Dahl and the first one to give a four-or-five-year-old his particular voice — villain-with-disguises, escalating mishaps, Quentin Blake's enormous crocodile properly menacing without quite being scary. The book to do with proper villain voices. A gateway to the chapter-book Dahls when the time comes.
- Beloved classic
- Quick to read
- Shared humour
- Beautiful illustrations
About the creators
About the creators.
If you liked this
Three ways out of this book.
If you liked this, try…
Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.
Come into this from…
Easier or preparing reads — perfect lead-ins.
Where to go next…
Escalation reads — a step up in scale, silliness, or stakes.
Buy or borrow
Pick up a copy.
- Bookshop.org ↗
- Waterstones ↗
- Amazon UK ↗
- Hive ↗
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