Book Review for A Girl and Her Gator by Sean Bryan

A Girl and Her Gator by Sean Bryan, Illustrated by Tom Murphy

Arcade Publishing (June 7^th, 2011)

Ages 4-8


32 Pages


ISBN# 978-1611450323

Children’s Picture Book   

This is Sean Bryan’s second children’s book. His first, A Boy and His Bunny, is also an exploration of the “kid-with-animal-on-head” theme, which, Sean hopes will explode into an entire literary genre. He’s a creative director at a New York advertising agency.

A Girl and Her Gator is a fun tale that will delight young children and make them giggle as their imaginations soar with the possibilities presented in the story.

Claire wakes up one morning with a gator on her head. When she politely asks the gator, Pierre, what he’s doing, he says that he would just like to hang out for a while. Claire is unsure if she wants to walk around with a gator on her head all day—I mean, what would people think and what would she be able to do?


Happy that Claire’s considering letting him stay on her head, Pierre begins to give her suggestions of all the things she could do with a gator up there: She could go to the fair or scare her brother. She could go get an éclaire—as long as she shares it with him, of course.


But then came another dilemma—what would she wear with a gator on her head? Well, Pierre has a solution for that problem, too: She can dress as a pirate or maybe evening wear? After awhile Claire enjoys all the possibilities, but what will her friends think when she goes off to ballet with a gator on her head? What disaster will befall the duo?


Children ages of 4–8 are going to enjoy this 32-page picture book. It’s truly entertaining. They will laugh as they read about all the possibilities of what Claire and Pierre can do together. The message: It’s okay to be different—in fact, it might even be more fun. Children should revel in what makes them who they are, and be proud of it, not worrying about ridicule or what other people may think. This is truly a delightful story that will put smiles on everyone’s face.