Jessica and the Crocodile Knight

by David Osborn

Jessica has been spending the summer on her cousins' farm near a big Florida swamp. Now it's time to go home to the city. But Jessica cannot face leaving Gribit, a little mallard duckling who has come to mean everything to her.
Brooding in the gloomy mangrove swamp about her impending departure, she meets Alfred, a kindly crocodile who invites her and Gribit to accompany him to the Other Side where they will be safe until Gribit is old enough to look after himself. When frightened, Jessica balks and Alfred dives down through a whirlpool with Gribit, she bravely follows to save her child.
It lands her in a strange world where Alfred's ambition is to be a knight. Jessica, Gribit, a motherly hippo , an eccentric dodo professor, a beautiful and secretive mermaid, and three naughtily eccentric crows are caught up in his hazardous quest to rescue a fair Princess from the dark and mysterious sorceress, Lady Gleam and getting a knighthood as reward.
The friends, in their quest, battle their way through one breath-taking adventure after another that will enthrall children of all ages.

128 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

David Osborn is the author of nine published novels, including the bestselling Open Season, Heads and Murder on Martha's Vineyard. He has also written 24 screenplays, including Chase a Crooked Shadow, which is listed by the British Academy of Motion Picture Science as one of the 10 best suspense scripts ever written. His original screenplay for The Trap was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. Osborn lives in Connecticut.