Judy Sierra

Find Authors

For Students and Teachers: Learn More About these Bestselling Books

Wild About Books. Illustrated by Marc Brown. Knopf, 2004.
Librarian Molly McGrew drives the bookmobile into the zoo, and soon the animals are reading, writing, and building their own branch library.
The Sleepy Little Alphabet. Illustrated by Melissa Sweet. Knopf, 2009
This ABC book is also a bedtime story. Big letters try to put their little letters to bed, but the little letters are not cooperating. How will it end? Only Z knows for sure.
The Secret Science Project that Almost Ate the School. Illustrated by Stephen Gammell. Simon & Schuster, 2007.
When a girl finds a genetically-altered science fair project on Professor Swami's web site, catastrophe is just one mouse click away.
Mind Your Manners, B.B. Wolf. Illustrated by J. Otto Seibold. Knopf, 2007.
B.B. (Big Bad) Wolf is old now, and has retired to the Villain Villa Senior Center. Is it too late for him to mend his ways and make new friends?
Born to Read. Illustrated by Marc Brown. Knopf, 2008.
Baby Sam knows right away that he's been born to read. Reading leads him to extraordinary adventures and successes.
Antarctic Antics. Illustrated by Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey. Harcourt, 1998.
Emperor penguins tell about their lives in wacky verse.
Counting Crocodiles. Illustrated by Will Hillenbrand. Harcourt, 1997.
Fifty-five silly crocodiles learn manners from a clever monkey, while children learn to count from one to ten and back again.
Schoolyard Rhymes Illustrated by Melissa Sweet. Knopf, 2005.
Kids, parents and grandparents will enjoy reading these favorite playground rhymes together.
Monster Goose. Illustrated by Jack E. Davis. Harcourt, 2001.
What's happened to sweet old Mother Goose? She's grown a pair of fangs, and is rewriting all the old favorites in scary new ways.
What Time Is It, Mr. Crocodile? Illustrated by Doug Cushman. Harcourt, 2004.
Mr. Crocodile plans his day carefully, but when he decides to eat some monkeys, they have other plans.

Counting Crocodiles. Illustrated by Will Hillenbrand. Harcourt, 1997.


The Story Behind the Book

The basic plot of this book comes from a folktale that's been collected in Japan, Indonesia, and India. A small trickster character—a monkey, a mouse deer, or a rabbit— wants to cross the water, but doesn't know how to swim, and besides, the water is full of crocodiles, or sharks! The little trickster takes advantage of the oversize egos of the dangerous creatures, telling them to line up and be counted in order to prove that there are a huge number of them. I wondered if I could expand the story into a picture book that was also a counting book. Because so many words rhyme with "crocodile" and "croc," I rhymed the list of all the things the crocodiles might be doing while being counted:

One crocodile with a great big smile,
Two crocs resting on rocks,
Three crocs rocking in a box,
Four crocs building with blocks,
Five crocs tickling a fox,
Six crocs in pink mohawks,
Seven crocs juggling clocks,
Eight crocs in polka-dot socks,
Nine crocs with chicken pox,
And ten crocs dressed like Goldilocks.


Then I wrote the entire story in rhyme. As I wrote, I wondered what illustrator could possibly draw the crocodiles doing all of these ridiculous things (while in the water, no less). Will Hillenbrand took the story far, far beyond the silliness of the words and created the funniest illustrations ever.

Will Hillenbrand also created a story of his own in the illustrations, the story of the snail and the starfish. Watch for it as you read Counting Crocodiles.