Hurry up Alfie (Anna Walker, Scholastic)

Veteran children’s author and illustrator Anna Walker has a new character: Alfie the crocodile, who has the long snout and scales, but doesn’t show his pointy teeth (maybe so children aren’t threatened as they usually are by the typical depiction of sly and scary crocodiles in other picture books). ‘Hurry up Alfie’ is the refrain from his long-suffering mother, as Alfie keeps procrastinating when it comes to performing the necessary preparations to go out to the park. He does a handstand when he should be eating breakfast; he sings, bounces, plays with a box, his cat, his tennis ball … anything except getting dressed. His exasperated mother’s plea to get a wriggle on will be familiar to parents of small children. Walker understands the difficulty toddlers have in remaining focussed on tedious daily tasks, such as undressing and sitting down for meals, and Alfie is a perfect embodiment of such restlessness. Hurry up Alfie deals with the usual morning chaos that many families go through before heading out the door. Walker’s illustrations are characteristically whimsical and sweet, and Archie is a great addition to her stable of characters, while his pet cat (with the unusual name of Steve McQueen) is a cute foil to Archie’s exuberant antics.

Thuy On is a Melbourne-based reviewer and the books editor of the Big Issue