Tad
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- $1.99
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- $1.99
Publisher Description
* Indie Next List Selection * Winner of the Oscar's Book Prize *
From Benji Davies, the award-winning creator of The
Storm Whale and illustrator of the Goodnight Already! series, comes a heartwarming and tender tale about courage and growth, featuring a
special tadpole named Tad.
Tad is small. In fact, she is the smallest
almost-a-frog in the whole, wide pond. That makes it hard for her to do big
things like follow her tadsiblings who swim to other parts of the pond
when they outgrow the nest.
As her tadbrothers and tadsisters swim up, up, up,
they leave poor Tad by her lonesome. That’s until...Big Blub shows up! He's not
only bigger than Tad, but Big Blub isn't exactly what a tadpole would consider friendly.
Swimming at her own pace, Tad soon learns how to to be bigger than her fears. Benji Davies creates a memorable and timeless
tale that proves sometimes the mightiest creature comes in the smallest
package.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This smartly constructed story follows a school of tadpoles as they grow and change all except the smallest, Tad. The tadpoles' nemesis is an ancient fish named Big Blub ("He was as old as the mud, they said"), who is partial to eating tadpoles. Underwater effects and a blue-green palette evoke murky liquidity as the tadpoles, with big, inquisitive eyes, achieve frogdom one by one: "We've lost our tails, we've lost our tails!" they cry. The tension mounts as Tad notices her companions leaving ("Where had they all gone? She didn't like to think"). Finally, Tad finds herself alone in the pond, and an inky double-page spread shows her cowering behind rocks as bubbles from below signal a hungry fish; she escapes in the nick of time. With firm command of his artwork and his pacing, Davies weds keen suspense to the slow, difficult process of waiting for milestones. By hitching that dilemma to the energy of an enemy-prey drama, he makes Tad's frustration and delight at discovering where the others have gone all the more vivid. Ages 4 8.
