Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Teeny Tiny Toady by Jill Esbaum & illustrated by Keika Yamaguchi [Review & Giveaway]

About the book: When a giant hand scoops up her mama and puts her in a pail, a terrified tiny toad named Teeny hops faster than she ever did in her life. "Mama’s stuck inside a bucket! Help me get her out!” she begs her big, clumsy brothers. “Don’t you worry, kid. We’ll save her!” they promise, bumbling and stumbling and jumbling out the door. But as the boys rush headlong to the rescue, pushing their little sister aside, it becomes clear: brawn isn't always better than brains—and the smallest of the family may just be the smartest one of all.  Written in lilting verse.

My thoughts: When I conjure up mental pictures of frogs and toads, I envision ponds, lakes, tall weeds, cat-tails, algae covered water, lily pads, water skimming insects, and the croaking of toads and frogs. So when I saw the green cover of teeny tiny toady and the dense grasses and plants with a wee little teeny tiny toady in the center, I immediately feel in love with this picture book gem.

Now personally, I'm not a lover of anything frog-y, toady, or reptile-y (I'm quite certain that is simply not a word. But.... whatever). But I do love this little toady. You see, she is the wee little sister of all the brother toads. And of course wee little sister toads don't have ideas and opinions that matter. It is all about what the brothers say do. So we get a bit of a boost when teeny tiny toady (sister to the brothers) actually saves the day.

The author's use of lilting rhyme causes the reader to run and pause and leap and flutter across the words just as the illustrator has sprinkled the text appropriately to show actions and emotions.

The toads get all hands and thoughts on board as they devise scheme after scheme to execute the rescue. This shows to the young reader that we can all work together for solutions to problems. And then when the brothers fail and fall into the bucket themselves, the young reader can also see that sometimes the smallest can have the best idea on how to accomplish the task at hand.

Lots of great illustrations..... Emotions. Excitement. Anxiety. Action. Keika Yamaguchi has used watercolors to deftly bring the story to life. I especially love the scene where teeny tiny runs home with the despairing news. I also love the page where the leaves are skittering and fluttering in the wind across the page right along with the text. And then as teeny tiny feels the weight of having to decide how to rescue ALL OF THEM, there is a huge dark tornado cloud spinning above.

I snapped a couple of pictures of the inside spreads just so you can get an idea how delightful they are.
Teeny Tiny has discovered the boy with the bucket that is holding mama toad and he runs home for help

The wind blowing across the pond and lily pad and leaves fluttering is captured in this picture

Families will have lots of fun reading teeny tiny toady and it will be a gem for librarians to read at story-hour.
GIVEAWAY
Begins March 30
ENDS April 20 @ 12:00 a.m. EDT 
Open to USA  addresses only.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
DISCLOSURE: I was provided a complimentary copy from Sterling Children's Books to facilitate this review and giveaway. Opinions are my own and I was not compensated for this review. Purchase it here

27 comments:

  1. I could tell you a story about my cat makita, yes! she is my furry friend, and one night during the summer, I had a huge sleep over with little children all piled up in the living area. Anyway' Someone that night tried to break into my home, and my cat screamed and roared so loud and stood up on her back legs to warn me, Thanks to her no one was hurt .. true story
    @tisonlyme143

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    1. Wow! Super furry friend saved the day (err... night)

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  2. I learned that you live on a farm, your favorite season is autumn as mine is,And that you enjoy camping.
    @tisonlyme143

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  3. I shared on Facebook , for some reason I still can't comment on your facebook, Dotty J Boucher

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  4. We have a baby macaw parrot and it got outside and flew into some trees. We didn't think we had a chance of ever getting her back and my grandson saved the day. He climbed the tree and actually sat up there for hours until he coached her to come to him. Needless to say, she got her wings clipped and is home to stay thanks to my wonderful grandson. dwelchert at yahoo dot com

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  6. I learned that the author grew up in Iowa and now lives on a farm. dwelchert at yahoo dot com

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  7. My mother always saved the day. I wanted to go to prom and we had no money for the dress. My mom worked to full time jobs and cleaned 2 houses to buy the dress.
    gandn74@ymail.com

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    1. Yes! Moms save the day very often. So loving and caring that she did this.

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  8. This looks so cute! Requesting it from our library right now.

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  9. We lost our son's favorite doll on a road trip and Grandma magically found him just in time for Santa to visit. He was so impressed - Santa even cleaned him up! ;)

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  10. She had very groovy white cat-eye glasses.

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  11. I learned she I live on a farm and her favorite season is autumn. Same as me. :)

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  12. Sorry, I can not think of a story to share at this time.

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  13. My oldest son saved the day one day when we were driving a a very busy interstate and avoided what could have been a very bad accident because of other crazy drivers in such a hurry again.

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  14. I learned that Jill's favorite season is Autumn because she gets to drive a tractor on the farm she lives on.

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  15. The author grew up in Iowa and now lives on a farm and finding meaning to her life

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  16. My cousin saved me from drowning when I was young. I'm very grateful and know I would not likely be here if it weren't for him.

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  17. I learned that Jill Esbaum grew up in a small town in eastern Iowa and that her family took frequent camping/fishing trips during the year.

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  18. This book looks absolutely adorable! I love rhyming picture books! Thanks so much for sharing this at Booknificent Thursday last week. I'm sorry I'm late getting around!
    Tina

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  19. Having my two-year-old niece on my lap at my father's funeral.

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  20. Personally no I can't think of any story where the least likely person saved the day. I can't even think of a story or cartoon that it was not predictable of it being this way.

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  21. Growing up, she read Nancy Drew books.

    Nancy
    allibrary (at) aol (dot) com

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  22. Jill Esbaum wrote a mini-mystery called "The Wind" about a nervous owl in the first grade.

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  23. I learned that the author lives on a farm.

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  24. I can't think of any stories where someone unexpectedly saved the day.

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