Despite his father's warnings about how dreadful city life is -- with the sun blocked out by houses of glass and steel, the ground covered in concrete, and water unfit for croc consumption -- Crafty sets forth one morning to follow his dream. As Crafty nears the city, the water and air become increasingly polluted. On arrival in the big city, he is spotted by a fisherwoman through the morning mist. The terrified woman tells a local reporter but it is not until she goes back and manages to snap a digital photo of a sleepy Crafty with her mobile phone that the media takes notice.

Of course, in the ensuing media uproar, Crafty realizes that fame is not at all what he had expected. Being hunted by photographers and oddball Australians -- not to mention the foul surroundings -- has Crafty wishing he had listened to his father. With the help of a pink dolphin, himself quite ill from living in the murky waters of the city, Crafty makes his way back to his home and family, while the people of the big city take note and start to clean up their harbour.

Local writer Alan Jefferies has borrowed from the real-life adventures of Hong Kong's own Yuen Long Croc, Pui Pui, to create a story that is both humorous and thought-provoking. It is a story that is sure to resonate with readers of all ages, touching on the hot topics of pollution, parental authority, and the effects of too much bad TV.

The illustrations, by local unsung talent Mariko Jesse (who also illustrated the girl-power book Sasparilla's New Shoes by Hong Kong-based writing twins Ming and Wah Chen) are sweet and whimsical and ideally suited to the text.

The bilingual book is also written in Chinese, and would make a lovely gift for any Hong Kong child between the ages of 4 and 14.

Karmel Schreyer writes educational materials for Asian children and is the author of the young-adult novels, Naomi: The Strawberry Blonde of Pippu Town and A Singing Bird Will Come: Naomi in Hong Kong.