Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile

By Bernard Waber

Everyone in the neighborhood loves Lyle the crocodile—except for a cranky neighbor and his nervous cat! Can lovable Lyle make everything right with his grumpy neighbors? A beloved classic read-aloud—now a major motion picture!

Lyle the crocodile lives in a house on East 88th Street in New York City. Lyle enjoys helping the Primm family with everyday chores, and playing with the neighborhood kids.

He’s the happiest crocodile any home ever had…until one neighbor insists that Lyle belongs in a zoo! Mr. Grumps and his cat, Loretta, don't like crocodiles, and everything Lyle does to win them over seems to go wrong.

It will take all of Lyle’s charm—and courage—to reveal the hero, and friend, behind the big, crocodile smile.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Oct 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9780547947037

Bernard Waber

Bernard Waber was the beloved author-illustrator of more than thirty picture books, including Courage, Ira Sleeps Over, and Do You See a Mouse? With the publication of The House on East 88th Street in 1962, his Lyle, Lyle Crocodile series of books became a mainstay of children's literature and was adapted for both stage and screen. A Literary Landmark plaque commemorating the adventures of this endearing New York City reptile can now be found on East 88th Street. bernardwaber.com.

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Reviews for Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile

[Amarin Pantanapichet · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It is fun and adventurous, I definitely recomend it! Lyle Lyle Crocodile

[blbooks-14314 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

First sentence: This is the house. The house on East 88th Street. Mr. and Mrs. Primm and their son Joshua live in the house on East 88th Street. So does Lyle. Listen: Swish, swash, splash, swoosh! That's Lyle... Lyle the Crocodile.Premise/plot: Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile is the second book in the picture book series by Bernard Waber. Lyle's adventures and misadventures continue. The main 'story' of this one is the one-sided conflict with their neighbors--Mr. Grump and his cat Loretta. It is a BIG conflict. No matter how much Lyle wants to make friends, well, these two aren't having it. Mr. Grump even manages to have Lyle taken away to the zoo!!!! Will Lyle ever be reunited with his family????My thoughts: I love and adore this one!!!! I do. It is such an AWESOME read. I enjoyed the first book. I did. But this one had me at hello. It was packed with action and adventure. The plot shares some similarities with the recent movie, however, it has some major differences as well. [Perhaps the powers that be thought it was too melodramatic how Lyle is finally able to make friends with the Grumps.] I highly recommend this one. It's never too late to go back and read picture books you may have missed out on. And of course, if you grew up with Lyle the Crocodile, it may be time to revisit these.

[ashleytylerjohn · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I thought I'd peek at other works by Waber because I'm such a big fan of his Nobody is Perfick, but where that book felt fun, different, and real, this one felt laboured and uninventive. There's no reason for Lyle (compared to, say, Paddington), and the resolution comes out of nowhere and is not clever. I don't get it, and it's hard for me to believe they're from the same pen. (Mind you, I love Thackeray's Vanity Fair beyond measure, but none of his other novels have grabbed me.) Yes, I'm not the target market, but I will absolutely enjoy a good kid's book when presented with one.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).

[cpaavola-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a children's book about a nice crocodile names Lyle who is misjudged by his neighbor Mr. Grumps but still manages to be kind and friendly to everyone. Mr. Grumps doesn't like Lyle because he scares his cat Loretta. So Lyle does his best to stay out of his way but ends up going to the store where Mr. Grumps works and then Mr. Grumps gets mad and makes Lyle go to the zoo. Lyle tries his best to stay positive and get used to his life at the zoo but he has a hard time. Mr. Valenti comes and helps him escape and they make plans to go to Australia but then Lyle saves Mr. Grumps and Loretta from a fire and Mr. Grumps changes his opinion about Lyle and asks him to stay around. This book is great for discussions on judging people before you get to know them and how important it is to stay positive and always be kind, even when people are being mean to you. The illustrations in this book are simple ink sketches that are filled in with water colors. The color scheme is mainly black white and green with a few other colors that add variety to the illustrations. They usually have a lot going on in them even though they are simple color-wise so they give the reader a lot to look at. A teacher could use this book if they were going to talk about judging others or staying positive. They could have students write their own story about themselves or an animal who stays positive in a difficult situation.

[ghelmus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's a cute, child-friendly story about a really sweet crocodile that just wants to fit in. His mean neighbor constantly complains about him, and eventually, Lyle plans on leaving town. This illustrations are simple and sweet, the story is easy to follow, and the characters take on a variety of roles as Lyle realizes that he can still be a nice guy to those that aren't nice around him. And in the end, Lyle's cranky neighbor is redeemed by forgiving Lyle and thanking him for saving his life/cat. This is the perfect story for lessons on helping others and being kind even when others aren't kind to us.

[kellylpickett · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Lyle is a crocodile that lives with a nice family who loves him. Everyone in the neighborhood loves Lyle, except for Mr. Grumps, and his cat, who has Lyle captured and sent to the zoo after causing a ruckus at his department store. Luckily an old friend of Lyle’s helps him escape. When they arrive back at Lyle’s old house they notice that Mr. Grump’s house is on fire and Lyle rushes in to save Mr. Grumps and his cat. This book also teaches tolerance and the fact that we should give everyone a chance.

[dennislankau · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book is appropriate for a read-alound for K-2nd grade. Lyle is a crocodile living with the Primm family. Everyone loves him except for Loretta the cat. Lyle causes some trouble and gets sent to Hector P Valenti where Lyle has to preform and dance. One day Lyle saves people from a burining building and everyone loves him once again, even Loretta.* Good read aloud for students learning about fanatasy fiction* Students can discuss what their lives would be like with a crocodile

[allawishus_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I guess this is the second book in the Lyle the Crocodile series, but I've never read the first. My main problem with the two "Lyle" books I've read is that they're just too long for the picture book format, and the story meanders all over the place. In this one, Lyle is living with the Primm family on E. 88th street. One of his neighbors, Mr. Grump, and his cat Loretta hate Lyle for no discernable reason - because he's a crocodile, presumably. Lyle does gentle things like play with the kids and take walks with Mrs. Primm, but Loretta the cat persists in fearing him. Long long story short, Mr. Grump eventually has Lyle put in the zoo where he's unhappy and misses his family. Lyle breaks out of the zoo with Hector P. Valenti (his owner previous to the Pimm family); they drive past the house on E. 88th street, see a fire happening at Mr. Grump's, Lyle rescues Mr. Grump and Loretta, and he's finally allowed to move back in with the Pimms.It's kind of cute and Lyle himself is adorable and somewhat befuddled at all that seems to happen to him. The illustrations are sketchy and heavily lined; there's some coloration, but it's mostly a limited color palette with green featured heavily.

[necampos · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Reading Level 3.7Lyle is a sweet, outgoing, and happy crocodile. His family loves him but Mr. Grumps and his cat seem to just be terrified by him. Lyle proved himself to Mr. Grumps by saving him from the fire at his house. Eventually even Mr. Grumps and Loretta got to see what was so great about Lyle. This cute book makes crocodiles seem nice!

[katie20_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lyle, Lyle the Crocodile is a cute story about a crocodile that lives with the Primm family. Lyle wanted to win the approval of Mr. Grumps and Loretta his cat. Lyle tried to do as much as he could, but everytime he tried Loretta was always scared of him. Mr. Grumps greatly disapproved. Mrs. Primm decided to keep Lyle at home with her and keep a close eye on him. She took him place and she took him to Mr. Grumps store. At the store, Lyle ran into Signor Valenti who he use to travel on the road with singing and dancing. Mr. Grumps was upset because they were disturbing his store and told them to leave. Mr. Grumps showed up at the Primms home and made an order for Lyle to put placed at the zoo. He disliked the zoo very much. Later, Signor Valenti set him free and on their way out they saw Mr. Grumps house on fire. Lyle runs inside and saves Mr. Grumps and Loretta. Mr. Grumps takes back all the mean things he said about Lyle and Lyle moves back home.

[chelsealouise · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Genre: This is a modern fantasy book because no crocodile would be a family pet nowadays, and they are not given human habits and they do not perform with other humans on stage. They do not have a human mind and cannot compute calculations or help little boys with their homework. This would not be possible in real life, no matter how fun the story is.The media used in this book looks like watercolors and ink for outlining. The illustrations aren't as detailed as they could be, but the watercolors blend together in such a way as to give it more detail. Some pages are more colored than others, but I think this makes for a great story. The expressions are great and I think young children would like to imitate the drawings possibly in an art activity.

[conuly · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lyle is just so nice. Unfortunately, some people - and cats - are irrationally terrified by crocodiles. Seriously, what gives? He scares his neighbor's cat so much that his neighbor arranges to have him sent to the zoo. Where he's miserable.But then his heroism - saving neighbor and cat from a fire - rescue him and all is well in the world again. Very similar to Lovable Lyle, another book in the series. Also, please note that this is a lengthy, wordy book and is better suited for the older end of the 4-8 range.

[lisirose · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was one of my favourite books as a child, even now I pick it up and reread it once in a while.