Press Kit

Talking Points: Interesting Facts about Crocodiles

One of the main characters in the Night Buddies series is Crosley, the crocodile. What do we really know about crocodiles? What does it mean to cry crocodile tears, for example?

1. To weep crocodile tears is to put on an insincere show of sorrow.
2. The first crocodiles appeared 240 million years ago, at the same time with the dinosaurs.
3. Crocodiles are much more closely related to birds and dinosaurs than the other reptiles.
4. Crocs can live up to eighty years!
5. Crocodiles sweat through their mouth, so when they lie on the riverbanks with their mouths wide open, that’s not an aggressive posture, but a way to cool off.
6. Crocodiles have very sharp teeth. However, they cannot open their mouth if it is held closed, even with the help of an adhesive tape.
7. Each crocodile jaw has 24 sharp teeth, used for grasping and crushing, but not chewing. The teeth of a crocodile get replaced continuously, throughout its life.
8. The eggs of a crocodile are almost the same size as that of a goose.
9. The crocodiles have a four-chambered heart, which behaves like a three-chambered reptilian one, when underwater.
10. The eyes of a crocodile reflect light, making them appear red, and make night vision possible.
11. Crocodiles do not shed their skin, rather they grow into it.

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Q&A with Sands Hetherington

What inspired you to write the Night Buddies series?
My son John and I had been kicking the red crocodile character (his invention) around at bedtime for as much as a year, and one night while we were doing this it just came to me. At first it was one book, not a series.

Many parents have nighttime reading rituals with their kids. What was yours?
I don’t know that it rose to ritual level. We’d just get in John’s bed at bedtime and I’d read. Eclectic stuff. After maybe twenty minutes he’d have had enough and the lights would go out and that was that. John was a good sleeper.

How did you come up with the titles of the first two books in the series?
My editor/publicist advised me that we needed a series look to the books and that the titles should have subtitles that were descriptive. So we looked for some of the main props in each title (e.g. cheesecakes for the first, and impostors and the flying machine for the second) and that was how they came about. Then, organically, the subtitles became part of the main title, Night Buddies.

Where are the stories set? Apparently, it’s New York City, but you don’t specify it in the books. Why not? It’s fantasy and I didn’t want to particularize it.
I realize it has NYC aspects but I just wanted any big city like Superman’s Gotham. I read somewhere that fiction has the advantage of presenting universal things rather than the merely particular, so who was I to argue?

Tell us a little bit about the characters in your second book. How did they come about? How did you come up with the characters of Fast Fanny, Lonnie, and Ronald Ogelsby, for instance?
I started Fanny out as a pushy, somewhat stereotypical woman car salesman. She definitely stays pushy, but when I needed her later in the main action, I had to give her more talents: mechanic and consummate service-after-the-sale exemplar. I put Lonnie out there so Crosley would have a pineapple cheesecake stand to visit. Basically, Lonnie’s just a big, colorful doofus who is there for the Iguana Gang to victimize, among other things. With Rodney, I surely needed someone to have the sauerkraut and jellybean hot dog cart (that was essential to the plot), and I simply wanted another colorful minor character. To flesh him out I tried to give him a bit of a Scottish accent, and make him fat and irascible, and let him be a racing blimp aficionado, as well as giving him a significant part in the action as it turned out.

Why did you make Crosley the Crocodile red?
I didn’t. John (around the age of six) came up with a red crocodile named Crosley. Everybody thought this was so cute, and when I subsequently thought to do a book, it remained to me to figure out why he was red (water allergy, Black Bottom, antidotes side-effect). Once I did this, everything started falling into place.

How come John doesn’t have a middle name?
A family conceit. My kid really doesn’t. I thought it would be cute to work it into the story. (With a surname like Degraffenreidt/Hetherington, who needs a middle name? This is addressed in the book. Crosley doesn’t even have a surname and this is addressed.)

When Crosley gets wet, he does the Black Bottom dance. Where does this dance come from?
Popularized in the 20’s by Tin Pan Alley. Started well before this by semi-urban southern blacks. The name probably came from a black section in Atlanta.

What was the hardest part of writing your first book?
A tough one. I think Virginia Woolfe called it “making the first stroke.”

What were the challenges in bringing the stories to life?
Mainly sitting down and doing it. Stuff comes out easily enough. A great deal of it isn’t any good and has to be done over and over and then still isn’t any good and that’s certainly a challenge.

What would you like kids to take away from reading your books?
Just excitement and fun. If it gets them to want to read more and more, that would be great too.

What do you do when you’re not writing?
I keep house and hang out with my longtime companion Ann and the dogs. I also work out at the gym and travel and complain about the state of American politics.

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Praise for Night Buddies, Impostors, and One Far-Out Flying Machine

“The second book in the Night Buddies Adventures Series has everything children love: quirky characters, adventure, a fantastic flying machine, and of course yummy food. And bright illustrations by Jessica Love. It is sure to be a winner!”
— Helen Ross, Australian children’s author

“Author Sands Hetherington teaches children the importance of honesty, teamwork, caring, obeying the rules and the laws and how to be a good friend. Illustrations by Jessica Love to help bring the characters to life . . . What happens at the end will surprise you! What happens to the moles and the impostors will renew your faith in kindness . . . Crusted Crème Fro-Madge frozen yogurt, special party favors and more. This is one story that will definitely keep you guessing.”
— Fran Lewis, Reviewer

“Sands Hetherington has managed to keep the Night Buddies series fun, funny, and alive through John and Crosley. If you loved and laughed your way through Night Buddies and The Pineapple Cheesecake Scare, then you’ll love this next book in the series.”
— Traci McDonald, Writing Blind

“It’s a fun little adventure, and one that younger audiences will enjoy.”
— Alain Burrese

“The second I opened up the package with this book, my son scoffed it up. I immediately had him give it back, but in the process of me trying to read it for review, the book kept mysteriously disappearing. I would find him upside down, in a sleeping bag with a flashlight reading the book instead of going to sleep…The book is action packed and well thought out. My son and I definitely look forward to future books in the series. I give (and so does he) this book a 5 of 5 stars!”
— Athena Nagel, The Stuff of Success

“This is a cute children’s book. It would make a wonderful Christmas gift for little ones.”
— Mary Jackson, The Mary Reader

“Do you know what an imposter is? In this second book of a new series, John (no initial) Degraffenreidt, the young city kid who isn’t ready for bed yet, and his friend Crosley, a red crocodile, fresh from having solved the case of the missing cheesecakes, take on a new all-night ‘program,’ according to their ‘Night Buddies’ contract, in which the two borrow a neat flying machine to investigate vandalism that’s being done all over town by a red crocodile. Could it be Crosley, or is it an impostor? Night Buddies, Impostors, and One Far-Out Flying Machine is a fun and satisfying story for kids of all ages who like to read mysteries.”
— Wayne S. Walker, Home School Book Review

“Jeeks! John Degraffenreidt and Crosley the red crocodile are back with a new adventure. In Night Buddies, Impostors, and One Far-Out Flying Machine, a case of evil Crosley impersonation leads the buddies across the night city, from underground hide-outs to aerial adventures. This book is packed with nonstop action, wacky inventions, allies and arch-rivals, rapid-fire dialogue, and the two best categories of kid-food: super-delicious and disgusting. Best of all is the pleasure of its language, fun to read and to read aloud. Any kid (even a grown-up one like me) will pick up its irresistible vocabulary, from Yerk! to Excelsior!”
— Lynne Barrett, award-winning author of Magpies and co-editor of Birth: A Literary Companion

“Sands Hetherington has done it again with the second Night Buddies book. This time Crosley and John find themselves on a not-so-normal program. Instead of solving some mystery like disappearing pineapple cheesecakes, they find themselves trying to find a red impostor. This wacky tale puts these two Night Buddies in some interesting situations any kid would dream of being in. The illustrations sprinkled throughout the book only help add to the imagination, and the unique verbiage helps to grow vocabulary. However, Crosley does warn you not to use some of the spellings in school as teachers may not like it. Can’t wait to see what Crosley gets John into on the next program!”
— VS Grenier, award-winning author of Babysitting Sugarpaw and World of Ink Network Radio Host

“More than twice the length of its predecessor with three hundred and nineteen pages, this paperback book has a colorful drawing of a boy and a red crocodile flying in a blimp over a city at nighttime on the front jacket. With the book’s plethora of intentional misspellings to emphasize diction, there is a fun warning page at the beginning stating not to spell the same words at school or on a test. There is also a one-page explanation of uncommon words used by the Night Buddies and about a dozen black and white drawings by illustrator Love. The book is targeted as juvenile fiction with some slang but no profanity.”
— Conny Crisalli, Bookpleasures.com

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