The Toad Who Loved Tea by Faiz Kermani
| The Toad Who Loved Tea by Faiz Kermani | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Jill Murphy
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| Summary: Fab tea and toad adventure with lots of slapstick and daft names, plus some lovely positive messages about following your dreams. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 62 | Date: January 2018 |
| Publisher: Matador | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1788039970 | |
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Tungtang is not like other toads. She can't sit still, tongue protruding, and wait to catch a fly. Tungtang needs to be on the move. Sometimes, she even hops right the way over to the rotten tree stump in her community of Muddy River. And she loves to regale her fellow toads with stories of her exploits. That is, until a mean old crow comes along and tells Tungtang that a real adventure would take her a lot further than a tree stump by a bridge everyone knows. Infuriated by the crow and inspired by her grandfather's stories of humans and ancient toad prophecies, Tungtang decides on a Real Adventure and heads off to the town of Little Cobblestone...
... where she discovers Queen Catherine's Olde Tea Shoppe and the heavenly delights of a hot beverage. Tungtang's delight in tea causes all sorts of problems for the tea shop owners - muddy trails, disappearing drinks, iced buns with chunks missing. So they set out to find the culprit. Will Tungtang be discovered? And if she is, what does it mean for the prophecy?
The Toad Who Loved Tea is a fabulously entertaining adventure. Tungtang is an individualist toad and she has courage too - there are plenty of positive messages about following your dreams in this story. And there's plenty of comedy too - some of it about Tungtang herself as she rolls about in transports of delight with each new tea blend she encounters, but most of it aimed at the snobbery and obnoxious behaviour of the tea shop's customers. I loved the names - Grandpa Nutbelch, Lady Lobsterpants and, for a particularly spoiled brat of a child, Britannicus. The whole thing is full of energy and great fun to read. The illustrations by Korey Scott are just as lively and humorous and they provide the perfect framing for the text.
If I had a criticism to make, it's that The Toad Who Loved Tea is set up as a chapter book for emerging readers to try alone but the vocabulary and sentence construction are both a bit too stretching for this. I think this story is best shared, with an adult reader making the most of the comedic names and obnoxious behaviour by some of the coffee shop's customers. I would site The Toad Who Loved Tea as perfect for the 3-8 age range and ideal for families who like to make books a shared experience. It will provide the perfect bedtime entertainment.
I wish Tungtang all the best in her tea-blending career. My favourite exotic tea blend is Lapsang Souchong and I think it goes best with cinnamon toast. This is a top tip for you, Tungtang! Take note!
Younger children will love Superfrog! by Michael Foreman, a frog-based superhero romp in which Pond City must be rescued from a crime wave. And Toad Surprise by Morris Gleitzman is a toad-ally wonderful Christmas-themed adventure.
You can read more about Faiz Kermani here.
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You can read more book reviews or buy The Toad Who Loved Tea by Faiz Kermani at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy The Toad Who Loved Tea by Faiz Kermani at Amazon.com.
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