Tadpole's Promise - Hardcover

Willis, Jeanne

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689865244 ISBN 13: 9780689865244

Publisher: Atheneum/Anne Schwartz Books, 2005

Synopsis

Where the willow tree meets the water, a tadpole met a caterpillar.

They gazed into each other's tiny eyes...and fell in love.

"I love everything about you," said the caterpillar.

"Promise you'll never change." And foolishly the tadpole promised...

But we all know that tadpoles don't stay the same, and neither do caterpillars.

Will they still be able to love each other?

About this title

About the Authors

Jeanne Willis is the author of many books for children, including Tadpole's Promise, I Hate School, I Want to Be a Cowgirl, and the popular Professor Xargle series, all illustrated by Tony Ross. Ms. Willis lives with her husband and children in London, England.

Tony Ross was born in England and studied at the Liverpool School of Art and Design. He is the illustrator of Tadpole's Promise, I Hate School, and I Want to Be a Cowgirl, all by Jeanne Willis, as well as the popular Amber Brown series by Paula Danziger. Many of his more than fifty children's books have won awards throughout the world. Mr. Ross lives with his wife and daughter in Cheshire, England.

Reviews

Starred Review. Kindergarten-Grade 4–Beginning with pages that open vertically instead of horizontally, this tongue-in-cheek tale takes a typical love story and sets it squarely–and amusingly–on end. Ross's vibrantly hued pen-and-ink and watercolor cartoons depict the edge of a pond where a caterpillar and a tadpole meet and fall in love: "She was his beautiful rainbow, and he was her shiny black pearl." Perched on a leaf above the water, she smiles down at her sweetheart and asks him to "Promise you'll never change." Although he agrees, some vows are difficult to keep, and when they next meet, he has sprouted two legs. She forgives him, but after he breaks his promise twice more and now looks more like a frog than her "shiny black pearl," the lovelorn larva ends the affair and cries herself to sleep (sequestered in a cocoon). Meanwhile, the melancholy frog sulks around the pond, making heart-shaped air bubbles that rise to the surface and burst. When the caterpillar awakens, now a butterfly, she decides to forgive her beloved and flies above the water to find him. Without a thought, the frog swallows her whole, and then returns to wondering about whatever happened to his "beautiful rainbow." Willis strikes the perfect balance between the deadpan telling and the humorously overblown dialogue shared by the star-crossed pair, while the artwork masterfully enhances each and every nuance. Enjoy this funny story on its own merits or try using it to lighten up a science lesson.–Joy Fleishhacker, School Library Journal
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Edition details

• Publisher: Atheneum/Anne Schwartz Books
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0689865244
• ISBN 13: 9780689865244
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Ross Tony
• Number of pages: 32