Cocodrie

In this tale set “way down deep in the deep delta south, where dusking calls from the bullfrog’s mouth,” the titular raccoon kit, afraid of swimming after a near drowning, must brave the river when gun-toting land developers capture his mother and other animal residents from their riverside cottonwoods community. Narrowly escaping the nets of DerBoss and his henchmen Radley and Finch, Cocodrie floats downstream on a drifting log, ending up in a bayou. There he meets an old pelican named Pontch, a cowardly alligator called Lil’-Al, and a water snake named Jo-Jo Slithers. The friendly trio teaches Cocodrie to swim, portrayed in layered green digital spot art by Coate, and then helps to rescue the prisoners. Though text-heavy pages slow the action (“while the old man mournfully glistened, rocking in a chair and picking in a stare, rocking and picking, in a slow and rhythmic ticking,” Danley writes), young readers may still enjoy the tale’s simple, cartoony sensibility. Ages 5–8.[em] (Self-published.) [/em]