Summer 2004 Review:

This book is about a cane toad who wants to know why humans hate cane toads. He lives in Australia where his family is constantly being run over. He embarks on a journey to a gas station where he hops onto a truck that takes him to the Olympic games. There he finds out why humans hate cane toads…because we think they are ugly. So Limpy (the toad’s name) decides to become a mascot for the games. He has to travel with his cousin, a very stupid toad who wants to hurt humans, and with an Olympian who is in the finals and takes a liking toward the toads. As they leave the girl Olympian, the toads form an animal Olympics but are disclosed from it. They finally become popular with humans when they help the girl from getting banned because of supposed steroids she used. Limpy had actually scratched her and that was the causing of the “steroids.” In the end, the humans want to stuff toads because they are so popular so Limpy and his cousin become very repulsive creatures so all the toads would be safe.
This is a story that will probably interest readers from grades 5-9. The book was extremely boring and I kept putting it down over and over again. I don’t know about you but I really don’t want to read about a cane toad who keeps his flattened aunts and uncles in his bedroom. It is a boring book, one that I might read again if it was the only book left in my room. I did not like the book at all. The best part was reading all the Australian words in the book. Sometimes the book was exciting, especially at the end, but most of the time it was boring. I did not like it at all.

~Vincent Calautti, grade 9, Boardman High School