Anna, an adventurous child of color sporting a red dress and black flats, is good friends with Crocodile. The title-page illustration shows the two playing cards (shes glowering at her hand while Crocodile grins with pleasure), and the opening spread depicts them strolling down the sidewalk as she concocts a plan to FIND GOLD. Cautious Crocodile, who would likely rather stick to card games, deems her plan dangerous and difficult. Good! [says] Anna. Lets go! Ensuing spreads show the friends planning their excursion, deciding to look for sunken treasure (rather than buried gold), and then setting sail. Throughout, Schwarzs pencil, crayon, and watercolor illustrations adopt a childlike style that suggests the pals are playing pretend (rather than embarking on a fantastic journey). The pictures are at their finest in a pair of wordless spreads at the center of the book that show Anna and Crocodile diving down to a shipwreck. These rich, detailed illustrations stand in contrast with other text-heavy spreads of humorous dialogue between the friends, and they invite careful examination. When the pals surface with the gold and bring it home, they resolve to bury rather than squander it: Now it is ours forever, said Crocodile. And it was. megan dowd lambert (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Anna has a great idea. Let's find gold! she says to Crocodile, and when he tells her it's dangerous, she's gung ho. Good! she says, Let's go! After some deliberation, they choose the most dangerous option: sunken gold. At first, Anna and Crocodile are the only color on sketchy backgrounds, but as their plan comes together, Schwarz's illustrations fill with more and more saturated hues until, when they're finally searching through underwater caves and past tentacled sea monsters, the full-bleed pages don't even have words. Dense layers of color and texture in watercolor and crayon make up this wordless seascape, with some figures composed of a riot of thick, waxy scribbles and others meticulously rendered in fine, deliberate shapes and lines. When Anna and Crocodile emerge with their pile of loot, they decide to bury it for later adventures, and when they arrive home, smirking triumphantly about their secret, colorful remnants of their imaginative game litter the gray-and-white background. Anna's undaunted enthusiasm and the playful, joyful celebration of imagination make this a sheer delight.--Hunter, Sarah Copyright 2016 Booklist

In a story about friendship and the dynamics of pretend play, a fearless, amber-skinned girl named Anna and her pragmatic friend Crocodile hatch a plan: to find gold! When Crocodile suggests that such a quest "would be dangerous and difficult," Anna responds with a confident "Good!" But finding gold requires planning: Anna and Crocodile practice their "secret faces" so no one will know what they are up to and make a hodgepodge treasure map of taped-together drawings ("The gold is in France!" Anna announces after placing an X there). After their attention turns to "sunken gold," Anna and Crocodile sail into a storm and dive "right into the middle of it," discovering a trove of gold in a shipwreck. Schwarz (There Are No Cats in This Book) uses an exuberant mix of styles-sketched pencil backgrounds, sweeping watercolor landscapes, and childlike crayon drawings-to create the fertile world of Anna's imaginings (which Crocodile may or may not be part of). Schwarz is keenly aware of the joy in planning and plotting an adventure, and the banter between her leads offers laughs throughout. Ages 2-5. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

K-Gr 2-Anna encourages her good buddy Crocodile to embark with her on a dangerous and difficult adventure finding gold. Some of the logical steps they follow to accomplish this challenging feat include mastering a "secret" face, being strong enough to carry the gold (which Anna practices by carrying Crocodile), and drawing a map with an "X" on it. Once they decide to go after sunken instead of buried gold, the duo dive into the sea, find the priceless treasure, and then decide to keep their discovery secret by burying it along with another map. Schwarz creates an imaginative and quirky adventure about two unlikely friends who invent their own kind of fun. Everything make-believe, particularly the underwater escapade, is depicted using vibrant crayon and watercolor illustrations. The subtle pencil drawings of a crude stick house that the two return to makes an effective comparison. The amusing rapport between the two cooperative friends is as compelling as the adventure itself, proving that all pursuits are better with a good friend to join in. Portraying Crocodile as the "rational" advisor of the operation makes the story even more hilarious, particularly when he suggests that Anna practice a secret face like his. Children will easily sense that the thrill of the adventure far outweighs the end result when Anna and Croc hide the gold instead of keeping it. VERDICT An unusual and captivating tale that will attract a willing audience.-Etta Anton, Yeshiva of Central Queens, NY © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Adventure-seeking red-dress-wearing brown girl + amenable crocodile = the perfect ingredients for finding a boatload of treasure. Schwarz throws together a wild imagination, travel, and an unlikely pair of companions to create a fabulously enjoyable and visually rich picture book that will have young readers digging up their backyards and marking the perfect spots. Anna, a diminutive, card-playing, and determined little girl, suggests to her reptilian buddy that they "find gold." After planning, sketching, and reading each other's curious facial expressions, Anna and Crocodile set out to do just that. Readers always know where to look, as Anna's red dress and Crocodile's greenness stand out neatly against their black-and-white pencil-sketched background. When the tale becomes a full-blown imaginative adventure, however, mixed-media color spreads across both pages. They sail to the middle of the ocean and dive into its teeming, mysterious depths, and they find that gold. When the pair returns with their booty, color follows them, illustrating the life-changing power of fantastical thinking. Young treasure seekers will want to revisit this tale again and again, and when they do, they will be rewarded by details they missed on earlier readings. As much of a treasure as the gold they find. (Picture book. 3-5) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

But for their giant snouts, scaly green skin and tails sticking out of their adorable clothes, the gentle, house-dwelling crocodile family we meet in this Australian import is utterly human. As little Alfie's sweet mom tries to get him dressed, out the door and to the park, his ever-distractible ways will strike a chord with preschoolers and exhausted parents alike. (She's an example to us all, never once baring her teeth.) Walker's lovely illustrations mix soft watercolors and textile patterning. HOW TO FIND GOLD Written and illustrated by Viviane Schwarz. 32 pp. Candlewick. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) There's nothing like a treasure hunt to get the imaginative juices flowing, as Anna and Crocodile find out when they hunt for gold in this beguiling tale by Schwarz ("There Are Cats in This Book"). But, for one thing, as Crocodile reports, finding it is "dangerous and difficult." For another, Anna's not even sure what gold is. As Crocodile tries to explain it and the two make maps and do an undersea dive, the banter is as cleverly constructed as Schwarz's layered, explosively colorful illustrations. ALAN'S BIG, SCARY TEETH Written and illustrated by Jarvis. 32 pp. Candlewick. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) Alan's chompers terrify everyone, though they're a bit suspiciously plump and gleaming. Soon enough he's exposed to his fellow jungle residents - and to shocked readers - as a fake-toothed phony. Like many a bully, he's forced to reinvent himself. But life becomes more fun as his popularity grows, especially when he becomes a first-rate teller of scary stories. The witty Jarvis ("Lazy Dave") makes all the right moves, drawing Alan's jungle world with his usual loose, jagged charm. SNAPPSY THE ALLIGATOR (DID NOT ASK TO BE IN THIS BOOK) By Julie Falatko. Illustrated by Tim Miller. 32 pp. $16.99. Viking. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) If you've become jaded about self-conscious characters in picture books yammering at you like overly familiar waiters, this clever debut will renew faith in the possibilities of fourth-wall breaking. A narrator describes Snappsy as lacking snap. He protests, and they begin a spirited back-and-forth, with Snappsy trying to wrest his story back. Trying to show he's a good guy, Snappsy throws a party. The narrator shows up: a chicken. (Uh-oh.) The ending still manages to startle. MY BABY CROCODILE Written and illustrated by Gaëtan Dorémus. Translated by Sarah Klinger. 52 pp. Enchanted Lion. $18.95. (Picture book; ages 5 to 9) A crocodile is out hunting when he finds a baby crocodile, who resembles him in shape - though if you look closely, it's a human child wearing knight's armor. The hair-raising tale of mistaken identity that follows slowly becomes a touching story of opposites meeting across the species divide. In time, boy and beast become not just allies but something like family. Dorémus's illustrations have a riveting, spiky beauty, with pages covered in fierce pencil strokes and nuclear-sunset colors. ONLINE An expanded visual presentation of this week's column at nytimes.com/books.