Anne Has an Alligator by Margaret Bain is a delightful book worth reading #kidlit #childrensbooks #kidsbooks #chapterbooks #kids #mustread #bookboost
- N. N. Light
- Jun 18
- 5 min read
Title: Anne Has an Alligator
Author: Margaret Bain
Genre: Children’s Chapter books
Book Blurb:
Anne Has an Alligator, a fictional juvenile chapter book about a world where everyone is born with an animal that grows up with them. The titular girl has started at a new school where a helpful zoo keeper shows her the best way to take care of her alligator and herself. It is a warm, whimsical tale about self-acceptance and belonging mixed with humor, animal facts, and school day mishaps.
Excerpt:
Standing above both me and my alligator stood my English teacher and a police officer. Oh no, I was really into BAD trouble now. The police officer had a grey little hamster sitting on his shoulder who wore a little cop hat. I stared up at both of them for approximately five seconds, and then I burst into bigger, more violent tears, still
hyperventilating to try and calm down so I could apologize fully instead of gasping sobs like I was currently doing. My alligator then puked in the closet while I was ugly crying. I won't describe the throw-up, but you can imagine nothing was great at this point. My teacher and the police officer looked at each other after watching the terrible scene and nodded. The police officer held his hand out and said: “Come with me, young lady. I’m taking you to the zookeeper.” He then radioed for custodial to come to the English wing for a “code green,” which was for the puke, of course.
At my old school, we did not have a zookeeper, because there were not enough different animals there for the zookeeper to take care of. Except for my alligator, of course. I took the police officer's hand as he walked us out of the English classroom. The alarm had stopped, thank goodness, snotty, I asked, “Did you get the fire put out?” wiping my nose with the back of my free hand. The police officer responded, “It was only a drill. No fire”. Embarrassed, I remained silent as we walked out of the classroom when a small hope popped into my head. All I was hoping for was that Christopher Ryan would not see me looking like a big sunburned wet-eyed gecko in my green jacket, with a barf-stained companion waddling shamefully at my side.
When we reached the zookeeper’s office, she was standing by the door, ready to greet us. She wore a khaki outfit, of course, and had little round glasses that sat on her button nose. Her hair was pulled back into a low ponytail away from her neck, and she had a big hat on too. She escorted us into her dark office and flicked on the lights. Her office was absolutely unlike anything I had ever seen before: She had massive tropical plants that lined the walls and a running water feature in the middle of her office that made the same whooshing sounds that a waterfall makes. Her tall ceilings had a skylight at the top, that shined in sunlight from outside.
It smelled like eucalyptus and lavender in her office which made me feel very relaxed. There were so many snacks, and small toys too for your hands to stay busy. On
the other side of the office there was a really cozy couch that my alligator could fit on and two chairs that I assumed were for me and for her. I placed my alligator in the water where she could clean her face. I wiped my face as well with a tissue that the zookeeper handed me on my way in. The zookeeper then introduced herself after we got settled, making sure she kept quiet as me and my alligator both calmed down.
“Hello, my dear. My name is Angela. What is your name? I see you have a scaly and beautiful animal there that has caused you some trouble. I want to talk to you about what happened.” The zookeeper spoke with a British accent. Ms. Angela was so calm, and I had never heard the words “beautiful” when someone was describing my alligator. I definitely got “scaly,” “scary,” “annoying,” and “problematic,” but never anything nice.
“Hi, Ms. Angela. My name is Anne. This is my alligator. I’m sorry if she is bad in here. This place is new to her, and that is when she is the worst, as I am sure you have heard. I’m sorry for what I did.” Ms. Angela reached
down gently and petted my alligator's long nose. My alligator rested her head in Ms. Angela’s hands and closed her eyes.
“You never need to apologize to me. I am here to help you, Anne. Currently, she doesn’t seem to be any trouble at all in here. Now, when you say bad, can you give me other examples of what you mean?”
Ms. Angela asked as she scratched and massaged lavender lotion on the dry scales of my alligator. I decided to tell Ms. Angela everything because she was a nice person to me, and my alligator, for once, seemed to be good because she was feeling safe. I told Ms. Angela about how at my old school, my alligator would run away from butterflies because she thought the butterflies were going to suck her blood.
How when meeting new friends, sometimes my alligator wouldn’t want to play for fear that she would get their germs and we would have to go to the doctor. Or how we had to always be doing or talking about something together because the silence between us made her uncomfortable to the point of panic and hiding under the bed or in a closet. Which distracted me from my life and what was going on around me. Then I told her about today and how she locked around my feet when I met Christopher Ryan.
I also told her that I am always feeling embarrassed because I think I am so logical and a good person. I mean, I use math all the time to make decisions, including if someone likes me as a friend or not. But my alligator makes me feel like I am bad. All I want to do is fit in with the other kids, and I want to talk to them about my animal like how they talk to each other about their animals, but not make it so big or the conversation about how I am so different.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub)
Author Biography:
Margaret was born and raised in Blessing, TX, a small 600-person town near the Gulf of Mexico. Her best friend growing up was her grandmother, “Mimi,” the elementary school librarian. When Margaret was a young girl, her family would help rehabilitate injured or abandoned animals and release them back into the wild. These careful actions got her a spot on the Houston Zoo Crew volunteer team in middle school, where she learned and interacted with more exotic animals like jellyfish, sharks, and the occasional reptile. Margaret has an industrial distribution degree from Texas A&M University and a master’s degree in psychology from Grand Canyon University. She is married to her husband Cameron Bain, who she met in college during an internship in Dallas, TX. They have 2 spunky cats named Marco and Polo, and an energetic Australian shepherd named Mabel together in Houston, TX, where they both live and work.
Social Media Links
Instagram @margaret.bain24
