New book Jock the Croc!

Jock the Croc- (How a Crocodile Became a Scotsman and How it could happen to You) is designed to be enjoyed by both adults and children. well, we don’t want to be shedding (crocodile?) tears of boredom whilst reading to our children, do we?

The book traces the life of a young crocodile whose given name mysteriously confers ever more Scottishness upon its bearer to the confusion of his family members. His appetite for haggis and a penchant for playing bagpipes set him apart from his peers. The book is narrated by a boy who witnessed Jock’s early years and as an older man relates what he saw to children. The plot thickens when it becomes apparent that Jock is alive and well and might be seen or heard upon his pipe in either Scotland or Africa where there is a secret Scottish city inhabited by tartan-clad crocodiles.

It is also suggested that an encounter with Jock could bestow upon you that same Scottishness which came upon Jock. Yes, it could happen to you- Och Aye the noo!

About the illustrator

SM Robert says: “When I was a child I loved Quentin Blakes’s illustrations.. then, aged eleven I met him outside the commonwealth institute in Kensington and got his autograph. He really should have remembered me fifty years later but he didn’t so the book is expertly illustrated by the marvellous Evgenia Malina whose style is of course much better. The other reason I like her is that she says my Russian is good when in fact it isn’t”

About the author

SM Robert spent forty years as a children’s photographer (as Stephen Mussell) and many of his book ideas come from mini-stories he told his young and often timid subjects to get them in the mood for a shoot. influenced by Lewis Caroll, Edward Lear and CS Lewis his appetite is for larger-than-life and comic tales often written as poetry. He has five children and nine grandchildren and is happily married to Asya. But how he met her in London and romanced her in Ukraine is the subject of another story…

Watch out for other titles which are written but not yet illustrated like

I don’t know why or how but I keep on turning into a cow – a young man faces unusual metamorphic challenges.

Cabbages at Midnight how a father tries to persuade his daughter that she must surely be eating cabbages at midnight because, as everyone knows, that’s how girls get prettier….”

or You’re Twelve about how an older man tries to convince his four-year-old neighbour that he is twelve by counting his fingers and adding his ears and how the neighbour gets his comeuppance.