Toad Rage

March 22, 2004
"Never trust a human." Those are the last words of cane toad Limpy's Uncle Preston, "the ones he'd said just before he was flattened by a funeral procession," in Australian writer Gleitzman's (Two Weeks with the Queen
) hilarious dark comedy. In fact Limpy has watched countless relatives get run over by highway traffic and, out of deference, rolls up their dried bodies, takes them home and stockpiles them ("Well, don't just leave him lying around in your room," says Limpy's Mum on one such occasion. "That room's a pigsty. I'm tired of tidying up dead relatives in there"). Not content to accept his parents' explanations for his family's advanced mortality rate (all the really nutritious flies hang out near the highway), Limpy is convinced that humans hate cane toads, and he sets off on a farflung journey to find a human being and determine the cause of their enmity. Despite his dearly departed uncle's admonition, Limpy discovers that humans might not all be so bad, as he falls in with a female athlete who, he believes, will help him apply to become an Olympic Games mascot. While the book was originally published for the Sydney Olympics in 2000, and some of the humor has to do with native Aussie animals' hurt feelings at being rejected as mascots, most of the comedy should travel well. Saucy fun from start to finish. Ages 8-12.

April 1, 2004
Gr 3-6-Young Limpy just can't figure out why humans hate his kind so much that they gleefully squash cane toads flat on the road every chance they get. Determined to be a goodwill ambassador, he sets off to change people's minds, but meets with nothing but vilification until he and his hapless cousin Goliath hitch a truck to the city and become involved in the hoopla surrounding a major athletic competition, The Games. Humor, both outrageously broad and tongue-in-cheek, permeates this tale of a toad that won't quit trying. The rollicking Australian slang (a glossary explains such expressions as "rack off" and "stack me") and the eye-popping adventures and characters make for a hugely funny read. Stack me, mate, one squiz at this book and kids will read it until they're puffed!-Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library

Copyright 2004 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2004
Gr. 3-6. In this amusing Australian import, readers get an amphibian's perspective on road kill. Limpy, a young cane toad, is horrified at how many of his family members have tragically died, flat as a pancake, on the road. He cannot understand why humans seem to go out of their way to run over toads. Desperate to save the rest of his family from the wheels of passing cars, Limpy decides he must do something to close the rift in human-toad relations, and he embarks on a risky campaign to show humans how nice cane toads can be. This funny tale of one toad's bold quest to reach out to another species will give readers plenty of laughs.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2004
Satire involving the mascots of the Sydney Olympic Games perhaps won't travel well, but this animal fantasy about a persevering cane toad still scores some points. Limpy--his nickname the result of an unfortunate encounter on the highway--wants to know why human beings seem to hate his kind. Gleitzman is wicked in this send-up of the animal-quest genre, which has at its heart some tough questions about prejudice.

(Copyright 2004 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)