The crocodile who wanted to be famous

By Alan Jefferies
Crafty the Crocodile lives in a faraway river village in China with his happy family, and their new TV, which fills the young croc's head with visions of stardom, and a hankering for the bright lights of the city.

Despite his father's warnings about how dreadful city life is, Crafty sets forth one morning to follow his dream. On arrival in the big city, he is spotted by a fisherwoman, who manages to snap a digital photo of a sleepy Crafty with her mobile phone, and tells the newpapers.

Of course, in the ensuing media uproar, Crafty realizes that fame is not at all what he had expected.

Based on the real-life adventures of Hong Kong's own Yuen Long Crocodile, this is a story that is both humorous and thought-provoking, touching on the hot topics of pollution, parental authority, and the effects of too much bad TV.

The bilingual book is also written in Chinese.

I really enjoyed illustrating this book, as the story is based in Hong Kong, where I have lived for much of my life, and I could include lots of little local details into the pictures.

I used Asian patterns and textures in the illustrations, to reflect the locale of the story, and tried to keep the overall look of the illustrations clean and modern.