Doris' Dear Delinquents - Emma Ward - ★★★.¾

AUTHOR: Emma Ward

GENRE: Children's Picture Book

PUBLICATION DATE: November 2, 2021

RATING: 3.75 stars.

This is an amusing story meant for little ones who have just familiarised themselves with the alphabet and want to have some fun with the letters.

Doris is a gharial who lives in a modest home on the banks of a river. She has 26 hatchlings, and are they naughty or what!!! Each of the 26 baby gharials is named for a letter of the alphabet, and thus, their antics are revealed letter by letter. By the time Z arrives, Mamma Gharial is tired and she calls on Daddy for some swimming time for the kids.

The alliterative title gives you a clue about what role letters play in this alphabet story. Each baby gharial’s mischief is also alliterative, either through the action/verb (such as “Bella bit mom”, “Dawson destroyed the toaster”) or through a quality/adjective (“Samuel was sassy “). This works as a simple and entertaining refresher through the 26 letters as well as provides some nice new words for youngsters to learn. Some of the connections in the letters were forced but I guess kids would enjoy them. They will also love looking at the naughtiness of the little gharials.

I liked the choice of having this story narrated through the fearsome gharial who doesn’t seem at all scary in this story. But I must clarify one thing. Saying “gharial crocodile”, as the book does many a time, is an error. The creature’s name is “gharial”, and it is not a crocodile but a crocodilian that belongs to the same reptilian family as crocodiles. Thus they are closely related to crocodiles but they aren’t crocodiles. They are native to the Indian subcontinent and their hallmark is that long narrowed snout which is perfect for grabbing fish.

This book was the Silver medal winner of the 2020 Key Colors Competition, and the illustrations show why. The sketches are quite basic but utterly funny. They aren’t too vivid but inked in simple pastel shades. As gharials are mainly found in Asia, seeing them in Western outfits such as smocks and baby onesies was hilarious. The long snouts of the crocodilian is optimally used to make their reactions appear even funnier.

Recommended only to beginner readers who would like to make their way through the alphabet along with some naughty gharial babies. (They need to know their ABCs to get the maximum out of this book.)

My thanks to Clavis Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC of “Doris' Dear Delinquents”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.