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.

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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