The Mysterious Tadpole

It's Louis's birthday and Uncle McAllister has brought him a very special gift: a tadpole all the way from Scotland! Louis can hardly wait for Alphonse to grow into a frog. But it soon becomes clear that Alphonse is not turning into any ordinary frog. First Alphonse outgrows his jar, then the sink, and then the bathtub! This new edition of The Mysterious Tadpole boasts reimagined story twists and entirely new illustrations. The lovable giant of a tadpole has grown into something even more wonderful!

I found The Mysterious Tadpole to be a fun and exciting book. Although I'm in my 20's it kept me hooked and wanting to read more with every page. The pictures are wonderful, and the plot is even more fun. It revolves around children's favorite things, presents! I love that it doesn't just end abruptly, but instead it ends making you wonder what is going to happen next. I have never read this book before, but it quickly became one of my new favorite that is just a fun read to do with younger children.

This is not my favorite [a:Steven Kellogg|68572|Steven Kellogg|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1200676988p2/68572.jpg] story, but the illustrations are very rich and lush in this new anniversary edition. The story is one of disbelief, it's a fun, endearing tale. Reminded me of [b:A Fish Out of Water|899608|A Fish Out of Water|Helen Palmer Geisel|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320551686s/899608.jpg|728902], but with some added folkloric detail for substance. The endpapers are gorgeous and funny.

I liked this book for many reasons. Firstly, I enjoyed the illustrations of this book because they enhanced the story. For example, each illustration in the book portrays the tadpole growing up and his size in relation to other characters or objects in the book. This allowed the reader to understand the mysterious aspects of the tadpole in the story. I also liked the language of the book because it was simple and easy to read. For example, most of the sentences were short such as “Louis and Miss Seevers bought the parking lot. They hired some helpers.” This made the book flow easily, while also being fun to read. The big idea of this book is that big things can come in little packages and may be a lot to handle.

The Mysterious Tadpole is a interesting story about a boy who receives a tadpole for his birthday, but this tadpole is not an ordinary tadpole as it grows and grows. He then has to move the tadpole from one water source to the next larger watersource.
I found this book to be a very interesting twist on a classic lockness tale. My favorite was how unsurprised the boy is and how easily the parents handle the circumstances.

This is the 25th anniversary of the well-liked 25th year anniversary of this original printing of the tale of Louis who is searching for a correct sized tad pole. When Louis receives a different looking tadpole than others, his love grows in proportion to this unique gift. Soon Alphonse is loved by all

Humorous, original, unique with a story that brings a smile.

Summary: This story is about a young boy named Louis who's uncle sends him a gift for his nature collection every year on his birthday. He sends Louis what he thinks is a tadpole. Louis takes it to school and his teacher asks him to bring it school every day so the class can watch it grow into a frog. Louis names his tadpole Alphonse and feeds him several cheeseburgers every day. Alphonse grows bigger and bigger every day. he grows out of his jar and the sink and the bathtub. Louis asks his parents if they can build a swimming pool in the parking lot across the street but they do not have enough money. Louis takes Alphonse to the junior high school that has a swimming pool that nobody uses during the summer. He visits him every morning show more and delivers newspapers to make money to but cheeseburgers for Alphonse. He teaches him to retrieve things from the bottom of the pool. When the school year starts again he asks his librarian Miss Seevers to help him with Alphonse. She remembers that there is a treasure ship in the city's harbor. They get Alphonse to the harbor and he finds the chest. They are then able to build him a pool to live in.

Review: I read this book when I was young and it scared me a little bit. The "tadpole" was a little strange looking and it made me wonder what was swimming around in pools and the ocean. The author does a great job of encouraging the reader to use their imagination. The story is fun and inventive and many young children enjoy reading about this tadpole that is not really a tadpole. The illustrations are kind of whimsical which adds to the fun element of the story. show less