Elizabeth and Larry

Elizabeth and Larry #1

by Marilyn Sadler, Roger Bollen (Illustrator)

Elizabeth, an elderly lady, and Larry, her dear devoted alligator friend, fear they will have to part company when Elizabeth's neighbors complain about Elizabeth's reptilian companion

Genres: Picture Books, Friendship, Childrens, Fantasy, Animals

32 pages, Library Binding

First published May 1, 1990

About the author

With a degree in fine arts, Marilyn Sadler assumed she would be an illustrator. But when early in her career she was presented with an opportunity to write, she seized it and quickly discovered that she had found her true love. No sad, sappy stories for her, however. She likes to make herself laugh, and with that her characters usually end up looking pretty silly for one reason or another.

Her first children’s book featured a fastidious little English boy named Alistair Grittle and was originally created for the English publisher, Hamish Hamilton, as well as for Simon & Schuster in the United States. Having created a boy with such perfect behavior, she then turned her attention to a not so perfectly behaved little boy. His name was P.J. Funnybunny, and he has existed in a series of books for Random House, including the highly prestigious Dr. Seuss Cat In the Hat series.

Marilyn’s television credits include two PBS Reading Rainbow programs featuring Alistair, an Alistair program for the BBC, three ABC Weekend Specials featuring P.J. Funnybunny, and a show based on her children’s book, "Elizabeth and Larry", for Showtime’s Shelley Duvall’s Bedtime Stories.

Between 1999 and 2004, The Disney Channel produced three Original Movies based on her book, "Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century". Each of Disney’s Zenon movies had exceptionally high ratings, with Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century and Zenon the Zequel among the highest rated shows in the history of The Disney Channel.

In 2004, Playhouse Disney began production on Marilyn and Roger Bollen's animated series, Handy Manny. Handy Manny premiered September 16, 2006, as the highest rated Playhouse Disney series premiere of all time. In 2009, Marilyn was nominated for an Emmy Award as Executive Producer of Handy Manny.

Reviews

[Larry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elizabeth, my boss brought one of her kids books to work for me to read. Loved it!

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

We found a Netflix treat: we just watched Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories, which features animated adaptations of children's storybooks with celebrity narrators. This story was narrated by Jean Stapleton and we just loved the format. It reminded us of the Tumblebooks animations that we occasionally watch online. As the book is narrated, we followed along with a slightly animated version of the illustrations. It was very entertaining and we really enjoyed watching all of the episodes on the DVD.

This is a fun tale of companionship and despite the silly pairing of an old lady and an alligator, the story is heartwarming. The illustrations are fun and very humorous. We enjoyed watching this tale and loved "Edith's" narration.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Effective and affecting.. and funny, too! Brings to mind But No Elephants and Crictor, but is probably actually going to stick in my head better.

But what is it with little old ladies and exotic animal companions? There was one in Babar, too....

[Kelsi-Rhea Kemp · Rating 1 out of 5]

This story is about two unlikely friends named Elizabeth and Larry. Elizabeth is a 62-year-old women and Larry is a 40ish year old alligator. They meet when Elizabeth orders a box of oranges and Larry is in the box underneath the oranges. Elizabeth decides to put the oranges in the fridge and keep Larry in a room above the garage. The two friends do everything together, until one day they realize that no one likes Larry. This causes Larry to embark on a journey of searching for his true identity.

I personally didn't care for this book and thought that my students would lose interest quickly. However, they ended up loving this book for some reason! We ended up having a really in depth book talk and covered a lot of inquiry based questions and thoughts based from this story. I was very surprised!

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite picture books! It's cute. I think that the friendship between the old lady Elizabeth and Larry the alligator is adorable and it is very nice to see how they work out ways to make each other feel more comfortable. After all, both of them have to make some kind of sacrifice if they are going to be friends.

[Haley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of my favorite books as a child that I still enjoy revisiting today. Perhaps I'm diving too deep but for me, it feels like a lesson in unique relationships, learning to love yourself, and breaking the mold.

[Chanmi · Rating 5 out of 5]

C'est chou😍

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute little book. I imagine it would be loved by children

[Cassi Mayle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cute kids book! An oldie but a goodie!!

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elizabeth and Larry by Marilyn Sadler and illustrated by Roger Bolen is story about the friendship between, a woman and an alligator. Elizabeth and Larry are best friends that face difficulties because of their differences. The story shows how they face these issues to save their friendship.

Elizabeth and Larry is great book to help to show children diversity and how to overcome differences. It also showed the importance of friendship and that even though you may be different, you can still be the best of friends.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that would be great to have students practice problem and solution writing as they would be able to give different situations and how the characters should react to them. Also if you covered the book so the students couldn't see the illustrations they could use the story to draw their predictions of what Elizabeth and Larry looked like just based on the text. This is a different form of prediction as well as metacognition practice for the students.

[Marilyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book on friendship I know.

[Rebecca Servidio]

One of the Best Children's books ever!! It teaches about diversity and acceptance but in a way that children of all ages can understand. All of my children loved this book and learned from it.