''Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile'' is a children's book written by

Bernard Waber Bernard Waber (September 27, 1921 – May 16, 2013) was an American children's author most famous for the books '' The House on East 88th Street'' (1962), '' Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile'' (1965) and the subsequent books in the ''Lyle'' series. Backg ...

first published in 1965. It is the sequel to '' The House on East 88th Street'', published in 1962. The book is the second in the ''Lyle the Crocodile'' series, which follows the life of Lyle, a city-dwelling

crocodile Crocodiles (family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to include all extant me ...

who lives in a Victorian brownstone with the Primms family.

Plotline

The story begins with Lyle and Mrs. Primm going shopping and running into their neighbor, Mr. Grumps. The grouchy Mr. Grumps finds Lyle a nuisance because Lyle scares his

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

, Loretta, and he has him thrown in the

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to z ...

. When Lyle is freed by his old performing partner Mr. Valenti, they go back to the house on 88th Street, where they find Mr. Grumps' house on fire. Lyle rescues Mr. Grumps and Loretta, is declared a hero, and thus is allowed to stay with the Primms, and is warmly accepted by Mr. Grumps and Loretta.

Adaptations

An animated musical adaptation of ''Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile'' aired on HBO on November 18, 1987. The special is also a part of the HBO Storybook Musicals lineup. A live-action/animated feature film adaptation was released on October 7, 2022, by

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acq ...

and is directed by

Will Speck and Josh Gordon Will Speck (born December 31, 1969) and Josh Gordon are an American filmmaker duo who generally work in the comedy genre. They have directed six feature films together. Their accolades include an Academy Award nomination. Speck and Gordon me ...

. Like the animated special, it is a musical, with original songs written for this film by the songwriting team of Pasek and Paul, who also served as executive producers. Canadian singer

Shawn Mendes Shawn Peter Raul Mendes (; born August 8, 1998) is a Canadian pop singer. He gained a following in 2013, when he posted song covers on the video sharing platform Vine. The following year, he caught the attention of artist manager Andrew Gert ...

voices Lyle who can't talk but can sing.

References

Children's fiction books Children's books adapted into films American picture books 1965 children's books Fictional crocodilians Houghton Mifflin books {{child-picture-book-stub