I think I’ll continue a toad theme today. When we visited Australia five years ago, I asked our new friends there to recommend some Aussie books. In the long list was a series by Morris Gleitzman on Limpy the cane toad. Ok, I admit these are supposed to be children’s books. All right, they are children’s books but the adults in our group were fighting over the two copies we bought of Toad Rage. Back home, we learned Limpy hadn’t been to American publishers yet so we had to order the other two books in the series from Australia, Toad Heaven and Toad Away.

In a nutshell, these books are delightful and laugh-out-loud. It helps to know that the cane toad is a despised but ubiquitous creature in Queensland. Their spreading population is the result of a backfired experiment to import cane toads from South America to eat cane beetles. Cane toads are poisonous and there are few natural predators to stem their spread. Aussies are encouraged to kill them. Limpy is puzzled by humans’ hatred of his kind and is sure that he can make a difference. These are hilarious, heart-warming stories. And good news! They are now available in the U.S.

Other Reviews:

Infodad.com
Curledupkids.com
Boomerangbooks.com

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