The cover of Tad was obviously what caught my eye when looking through some reader copies. Benji Davies has a story with great illustrations but had a few bumps to the story itself.
Tad is a frog, well almost. She (like her tadbrothers and tadsisters) is not there, yet. But they will be. A simple telling of how a tadpole turns into a frog could have had a lot of potential. You could teach science. And since Tad is a bit slower than the siblings growing into a frog, you could mention that things happened in their own time. But the way this comes about was forced, rushed in places.
Overall it is an interesting story about growing up, but the only action (being chased by the very large fish called Big Blub), while mentioned could happen, seems to happen out of the blue. The way it was presented was not that it was swimming around them, but was the tadpoles imagining it. Yet, this would be good for ages 4 to 8 (though, do note that (as mentioned) there is the realism of Tad being chased by the fish).
The art is worth the read. There is good colors, lines and images. The details are perfect to set the scene and work with the text. Davies created pictures that are pleasant to look at. If you are a fan of their other work (such as The Storm Whale and Grandad’s Island to name two of several, you might also be a fan of this work as well. Davies seems to have a similar style to all of their works. Due June 2020.
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