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The natural world doesn't work the way fairy tales do, but it still has its fair share of enchantments. With text and pictures that are both scientifically accurate and totally true to the comedies of family life, this is a happily-ever-after tale of unexpected transformations.


The story of a tadpole's evolution into a toad is presented through a simple tale of a young girl, Fran... More

The natural world doesn't work the way fairy tales do, but it still has its fair share of enchantments. With text and pictures that are both scientifically accurate and totally true to the comedies of family life, this is a happily-ever-after tale of unexpected transformations.


The story of a tadpole's evolution into a toad is presented through a simple tale of a young girl, Francine, who has a tadpole for a pet. Every day Francine notices the changes in her tadpole and announces them to the members of her family, each of whom (except for her sister, who teases her about frogs, princes, and fairy tales) shares her excitement. It isn't until Francine's grandparents visit and explain the difference, however, that Francine finds out that her "frog" is actually a toad. Cannon's soft watercolor illustrations not only capture the warmth of the family but also accurately depict the evolution of the toad. Solid science is packed into a lovely story that ends like a fairy tale when the toad is released into the wild and everyone lives "happily ever after."
-Helen Rosenberg
BOOKLIST



Young Francine and her family form a fictional framework for the real metamorphosis of Fred the tadpole into Fred the toad. Interspersed with data on the care, feeding, and development of tadpoles are Francine's older sister's recollections of frog-kissing episodes in fairy tales. As her parents advise patience, the child watches Fred, who she thinks is a frog, slowly evolve, until her grandparents come to visit, and her grandmother explains that her pet is a toad. Rather relieved at the prospect of a cessation in bug-catching but pleased at a possible long-term relationship, Francine conscientiously releases Fred in her suburban backyard.
-SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL

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