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Crocodiles and kindness: Sooke man publishes first children’s book

Father-of-two inspired by improvised bedtime stories
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Sooke’s Nate Ripley has self-published his first children’s book, ‘Don’t Eat Me, Crocodile’. The father of two donated copies to Sooke Elementary, Saseenos Elementary, Poirier Elementary, SEAPARC pre-school and the Sooke branch of Vancouver Island Regional Library. (Courtesy of Nate Ripley)

Nate Ripley never imagined that improvising a bedtime story for his two kids one night would amount to anything, but a year and a half later, he’s got a book to prove it.

The Sooke man has self-published his first children’s book, called Don’t Eat Me, Crocodile.

The story follows a crocodile, while on his search for lemonade, quickly finds out that everyone is afraid of his pointy teeth. The lesson of the story emphasizes the importance of not judging people based on their appearance.

“I wasn’t even planning on publishing a book,” said Ripley. “But as I developed it more, I realized this was something other kids might enjoy too.”

Ripley shared on social media that he’d sit down at his kitchen table with his first sketches and said he had to go through a lot of trial and error before the project came together. He decided on a crocodile as the main character because their family was planning a trip to Florida.

Six copies of the book were donated between Sooke Elementary, Saseenos Elementary, Poirier Elementary, SEAPARC Preschool and the Vancouver Island Regional Library.

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