How to abridge Roald Dahl’s ‘The Enormous Crocodile’ for 2 year olds
After the millionth time Jack begged me to read him ‘the crocodile book’ (aka Roald Dahl’s ‘The Enormous Crocodile’) I gave in. He was probably just under 2 at the time.
I quickly realised that the storytelling power of this book shines through…even when you have to miss out sections because your impatient toddler wants to get to the ‘BANG’. So here it is, The Enormous Crocodile: abridged.
Roald Dahl’s ‘The Enormous Crocodile’ abridged for 2 year olds
Spread 1
In the biggest brownest muddiest river in Africa, two crocodiles lay with their heads just above the water. One of the crocodiles was ENORMOUS. The other was not so big.
Spread 2
The Enormous Crocodile crawled out of the water and met Humpy-Rumpy, the hippopotamus. Hello Humpy Rumpy!
Spread 3
Inside the jungle he met Trunky, the elephant. Hello Trunky! And he went SNAP on Trunky’s leg!
Here I always pretend to snap Jack’s leg 😉
A bit further on he met Muggle-Wump the Monkey. Hello Muggle-Wump
As your child gets a bit older you can add in the line ‘Muggle-Wump was sitting in a tree, eating nuts.’
Spread 4
Then The Enormous Crocodile went SNAP on Muggle-Wump’s tree
Again, pretend to ‘snap’ like a crocodile as you say the word
A bit further on, the Enormous Crocodile met the Roly-Poly Bird. Hello Roly-Poly Bird!
Spread 5
Then The Enormous Crocodile went SNAP on the Roly-Poly Bird’s tail feathers!
At the start I’d leave it at that. As your child gets a bit older you can add in the first line of the next page – ‘At last, the Enormous Crocodile came out of the other side of the jungle into the sunshine. He could see the town not far away.’
Spread 6
The Enormous Crocodile gathered up some leaves and some coconuts, and he pretended to be a coconut tree! Naughty crocodile!
I know the ‘naughty crocodile’ line isn’t in the original, but Jack loves it. Repetition is always good for children. This line also helps get across the moral that it’s not good to pretend to be a coconut tree so you can eat children!
When your child is starting to count you can also start adding in the lines ‘Now for cleaver trick number 1’. The repetition works well, but the line itself won’t mean much to most 2 year olds.
Spread 7
But Humpy-Rumpy the Hippopotamus bashed into the crocodile and knocked him over! Hurray, Humpy-Rumpy!
Spread 8
Then the Enormous Crocodile pretended to be a see-saw! Naughty crocodile!
Spread 9
But Muggle-Wump the Monkey came and warned all the children to run away. Hurray, Muggle-Wump!
Spread 10
Then The Enormous Crocodile pretended to be a crocodile…on a merry-go-round! Naughty crocodile!
Spread 11
But the Roly-Poly Bird came and warned all the children to run away. Hurray, Roly-Poly Bird!
Spread 12
Then the Enormous crocodile pretended to be a bench. Naughty crocodile!
As your child gets older you can add that the crocodile ‘put some flowers on the table and hid the real bench’
Spread 13
But Trunky the elephant came and picked up the crocodile by his tail. ‘Let me go’ said the crocodile. ‘Let me go!’
‘No’ said Trunky ‘I will not let you go.’
Spread 14
‘Trunky began to swing the Crocodile round and round in the air. Faster, AND FASTER, AND FASTER STILL…’
On this page I now read most of the words. This was what I started with the first few times I read this book to Jack.
Spread 15
Suddenly, Trunky let go of the Crocodile’s tail , and he went shooting high up into the sky like a huge green rocket.Â
Higher and higher…faster and faster…until…
Spread 16
With the most tremendous BANG! The Enormous Crocodile crashed headfirst into the hot hot sun. And he was sizzled up like a sausage!
I always let Jack do the ‘BANG’, of course!
So, there you have it – The Enormous Crocodile abridged for 2 year olds. Like it? Let me know in the comments. Requests for other abridged books are welcome too. 🙂
For other (unabridged) great books for 2 year olds read my list of the 10 Best books for 2 year olds
