Jennifer Murdley's Toad
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
In this magical fantasy adventure by the award-winning author of Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher, a talking toad takes a girl on a wild ride.
Jennifer Murdley has always wanted to be pretty.
That's why she's so surprised to leave Mr. Elives's magic shop with a particularly ugly toad. As her worst enemy says, "A toad for a toad."
But this toad can talk. And what it has to say sets Jennifer off on a journey that leads her into the company of the Immortal Vermin and straight to the Beauty Parlor of Doom . . . where she comes face-to-face with her deepest fears and dreams.
Jennifer Murdley would give anything to be beautiful. But sometimes anything is too high a price to pay.
"Endlessly funny . . . . A roller-coaster ride of a story, full of humor and even wisdom." —Kirkus Reviews
"Fast-moving with slapstick humor . . . . Recommended." —Horn Book
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This fanciful story questions the value of beauty yet spins out of control after a promising start. Jennifer, a fifth-grader, agonizes over her appearance--``I'm just a kid in the plain brown wrapper''--and her schoolmates' taunts are doubly painful. After purchasing a toad from a mysterious shopkeeper Jennifer is amazed to discover that not only can Bufo talk, he can mimic voices unerringly. At school the canny amphibian inflicts vengeance on Sharra, a nasty classmate. When a gorgeous witch kidnaps Jennifer's youngest sibling, her evil intentions are thwarted by teamwork--and by Jennifer's sacrifices that reveal qualities surpassing mere beauty. Coville's ( Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher ) comical classroom scenes lapse into a convoluted web involving Bufo's long-lost sweetheart and the belabored idea that pulchritude denotes cruelty; unattractiveness, humanity. The book's laudable message, however, is clearly delineated, and as kind, loyal Jennifer endures a poor self-image, one hopes readers will see the light. Ages 8-12.
