Alligator Baby

by Robert Munsch, Michael Martchenko (Illustrator)

From Robert Munsch, storyteller extraordinaire and author of the runaway best-seller LOVE YOU FOREVER, comes this laugh-out-loud family tale!

Kristen's parents just can't seem to do anything right. First they have their baby at the zoo, not in a hospital. Then, they accidentally bring home an baby alligator instead! After it bites everyone on the nose, they return to the zoo and come back with a baby seal! Kristen sees that she will have to solve this problem herself. She bikes to the zoo and finds their baby with . . . a gorilla mommy. When the baby bites the gorilla on the nose, Kristen sees her chance--and takes home her new baby brother!

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Fiction, Family, Canada, Humor

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Robert Munsch was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Fordham University in 1969 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and from Boston University in 1971 with a Master of Arts degree in anthropology.

He studied to become a Jesuit priest, but decided he would rather work with children after jobs at orphanages and daycare centers. In 1973, he received a Master of Education in Child Studies from Tufts University. In 1975 he moved to Canada to work at the preschool at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario. He also taught in the Department of Family Studies at the University of Guelph as a lecturer and as an assistant professor. In Guelph he was encouraged to publish the many stories he made up for the children he worked with.

Munsch's wife delivered two stillborn babies in 1979 and 1980. Out of the tragedy, he produced one of his best-known books, Love You Forever. This book was listed fourth on the 2001 Publishers Weekly All-Time Best selling Children's Books list for paperbacks at 6,970,000 copies (not including the 1,049,000 hardcover copies). The Munsches have since become adoptive parents of Julie, Andrew and Tyya (see them all in Something Good!)

Munsch has obsessive-compulsive disorder and has also suffered from manic depression. In August 2008, Munsch suffered a stroke that affected his ability to speak in normal sentences. He has recovered enough that he is able to perform live, but has put his writing career on hold until he is fully recovered.

Reviews

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Level L guided reading

[Sandra Dussault · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Munsch est certainement mon auteur pour enfants préféré. J'adore lire ses histoires à mes élèves parce qu'ils peuvent participer dans les phrases ou les onomatopées répétitives. Ils les trouvent drôles et en redemandent à chaque fois.

[Everett Earles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m not sure what mom and dad are hinting at reading me all of these books about babies. I know one thing though-if they become as stupid as Kristen’s parents are, we’re in real trouble!

[Karin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peak Robert Munsch. We were smiling and giggling and loved the cliffhanger ending.

[Courteney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book managed to capture the attention of my 5yo and 2.5yo at the same time; they both loved it!

[Brooke Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of Robert Munsch’s best books in my opinion! In the story, Kristen was awakened by her mother screaming about to have her baby. Instead of going to the hospital though, his father drove them right to the zoo. When Kristen’s parents uncovered the blanket, they realized it wasn’t their baby at all... he was an alligator! His parents went back to the zoo to get Christian’s bother but instead they got a seal. This pattern continued with a gorilla, Kristen went to the zoo to look for her new baby brother. She found him and saved the day by bringing the real human baby home! This book could be used to to teach children plot. The students would have to remember all the different parts of the book and place them in a certain order to reinforce plot. Also, is the students were learning about the alphabet they could learn what letter all the different animals in the story starts with.

[Lauren Holmquist · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Munsch has been and will always be one of my favorite childhood authors. Alligator Baby was one of my favorite books growing up. This family based book is about Kristen and her family. One night her mother wakes up because she was about to have a baby! So, he father gets up and runs to the car with her mother then drive to the hospital. But Kristen's parents got lost on their way to the hospital and end up at the zoo instead. Thinking nothing of it they have the baby at the zoo then drive home. Readily excited Kristen wants to see her baby brother but instead of a human baby in her mothers arms it was an alligator baby. Thinking that is not right her parents went back to the zoo and were sure that this was their baby. Turns out it was a seal baby. After a third try they brought back a gorilla baby. Kristen took matters into her own hands and went to the zoo to rescue her baby brother. This book combines humor along with familial connections to create a funny yet family based book that younger children will love.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm learning that his books are almost always hilarious!

Imagine having a baby at a zoo, then bringing home the wrong baby! Will they get their baby back or be stuck with an animal baby?

--back cover
From Robert Munsch, storyteller extraordinaire and author of the runaway best-seller LOVE YOU FOREVER, comes this laugh-out-loud family tale!

Kristen's parents just can't seem to do anything right. First they have their baby at the zoo, not in a hospital. Then, they accidentally bring home an baby alligator instead! After it bites everyone on the nose, they return to the zoo and come back with a baby seal! Kristen sees that she will have to solve this problem herself. She bikes to the zoo and finds their baby with . . . a gorilla mommy. When the baby bites the gorilla on the nose, Kristen sees her chance--and takes home her new baby brother

[Makaley Boyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember reading this book when I was younger I thought it was hilarious! It tells the story of a girl's parents having their baby at a zoo and then continuously bringing home the wrong baby. This book has a lot of humor that little kids would find hilarious. This book would be great for beginning readers because of the sequence/ repetition. Kids are able to interact while you read to such as guessing what animal they brought home next. Also, it could be a great book on how to solve problems. I believe that this would be a very fun book to read to a class of kindergarteners. They would enjoy it a lot and be able to understand, follow along and laugh.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alligator Baby is a story about two parents who accidentally take a wrong turn on the way to the hospital and have their baby at the zoo instead. They keep bringing home other baby animals on accident instead of their human baby. Their daughter tells them over and over that they have the wrong baby and eventually they bring the right one home. I love this book and I thought it was very funny growing up. Maybe I just enjoyed books where the children were very smart and the adults were very silly. Regardless, it is a funny book for many ages and it was one that I bought with my very limited college money. I love this book and everything that this author puts out.

[Shannon Futrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kristen's parents had their baby at the zoo and they accidentally brought home an alligator baby instead. Then the parents take it back to the zoo and come back with a seal. Kristen ventures out to solve the problem and the parents eventually got their real baby back. This story would be great for teaching children how to solve problems of their own.

[paige turner ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alligator Baby is a silly book about how parents found their way to a zoo instead of a hospital and had a baby and somehow got that baby mixed up with a bunch of other zoo animals.

Apparently, it takes a little girl to go to the zoo to find the real baby.

I guess this is a case of mom's brain to the extreme.

[Noah Subramanian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was funny and provides proof of how little common sense parents can have sometimes. I also found it interesting, how at the return from every trip it was their daughter who realized they had the wrong baby not the baby’s parents. That’s also pretty sad you parents mistaking you for an alligator and other animal infants. Reminded me of that movie switched at birth I think it’s called.

[Debbie Dwyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I believe you should read Alligator Baby it has repeating lines. And it is hilarious as a pig screaming. One reason to read this book is it is so funny! On the first page the mom yells, "I'm having a baby!" She woke up the daughter at night. From the reading, she came back with the baby. Her daughter soon saw the baby. She opened the blanket and it was an alligator! Everyone screamed!
Another reason to read this book is there are repeating lines. It is from screaming. From the text, the repeating line is "ah!"
Everybody should read this book read this book cold Alligator Baby. the baby gets in the zoo

[Nikky Cassidy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny, good pictures, very repetitive which is great for learning to read. Don’t know if I like the little girl being left on her own and opening the door when someone knocks or going to the zoo in the dark but it a by of silly fun and I’ll just pretend she is a older kid.

[Sabrina Voss · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book helps kids with their identification and what is wrong with this picture skills. Along with that, this book is also a funny way to introduce a child to a new sibling. Overall great artwork and concept.

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

One night Kristen's father and mother rushed off to the hospital to have their baby. Taking a wrong turn, they ended up at the zoo. When they got home to show Kristen her baby brother she knew right away a mistake had been made. Enjoyable and funny story and illustrations.

[Ameema S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

In all seriousness, I am concerned about these two children living with incompetent parents who can’t tell an alligator from a human!!!!!

A laugh out loud funny book, I re-read in anticipation of gifting it to one of my fave little humans (… or maybe she’s a seal?)

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked something up on my holiday travels, which has left me with some faulty squeak-toy in my throat instead of a real voice, so my niece read to me, today. This was super-cute, but I can't help but question how these parents got the first kid home in the first place.

[Veeda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super funny book! Nice illustrations.

[Holly Thompson-Small · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute little book for primary age children. I think it is fun to have the students guess that animal while reading the book. Might also be a great sequencing book for kindergarteners.

[Molly Cluff (Library!) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very silly story! Lots of text on each page, so it would work a lot better told orally I think.

[Natalie Hills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute story with the child being the responsible one and the parents being ridiculous. My 4 year old and I enjoyed this story.

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Top shelf. Munsch has written 60 of these books and I bet this is a Top 5 favourite for his storytelling live audience. I loved it.

[Prama · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captivating and very funny. The art suits the tone of the story perfectly.

[Karla · Rating 5 out of 5]

all-time favorite

[Deborah Breckenridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of Robert Munsch books of all times

[Christopher Hutton · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son loves this book, but can we all just agree that the parents are on cocaine?

[Sinem Gülen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creepy and interesting. Crocodile baby and human baby don't even look like. You mother father!!!

[Veronika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting to see the difference between the English and French versions, including different names of characters.