Title: Stinky Cecil in Operation Pond RescueAuthor: Paige Braddock
The hilarious tale of a group of amphibians (and one free-range hamster) who set out to save their tiny pond home from one very large steamroller.
Sometimes big stories happen in small places. Sometimes big things happen to small creatures. This is one of those stories . . .
Cecil is a toad. A toad busy doing what any other toad does with its days--judging the pond splashing contest (Reggie the fly is usually the honorary winner by dint of his five-day lifespan), or visiting his friends, Jeff the free-range hamster, Rayray the lizard, Jeremy the worm, or Sprout the frog. And, of course, trying to keep clear of the local hawk.
But when Cecil discovers a freeway construction project aimed right at the pond, he knows he has to come up with a plan to save his home. But what can a small group of amphibians and a reincarnating fly do against construction vehicles and a steady onslaught of hot asphalt? Cecil isn't sure, but he knows they have to try.
This will short since it's a short book! Cute little book about a group of friends trying to save their pond. It was a very quick read for me, and typically I would not have read it except for one thing. I have a 7 year old son who is a very good reader. The thing is - he really only likes reading nonfiction. Now that's great except I know he needs to gain stamina in reading fiction as well! I had this book sitting out after getting it un-requested in the mail. He picked it up and started paging through. He did this several times. I thought, "Hey if it looks interesting enough for him to even pick up I have to read it!". So I did.
I liked all the characters. They were cute and fun. They would make little comments that would make any young kid giggle. And it has some "potty" humor that they will giggle at even more. I mean really, the toad's name is STINKY Cecil. I liked how it showed them all working together and never giving up even though they were little and up against big machines. I think that's a great lesson for younger kids to see!
Over-all fun little book.
One quick note - the information that came with the book says it's for the middle grade. I've always heard of MG being 9-12 or 8-12. In my mind this book is for the very low end of that range. I can't imagine my 6th, 7th or 8th graders reading this at all. It's just to simple for them. I do think it's perfect for 2nd - 5th though! Just my opinion.
This sounds cute. I'll check it out. I believe middle-grade is considered to be third through fifth grades while Tween is usually considered to be sixth through eighth grades, which is middle school, and that's where the confusion lies.I think an awful lot of us (and I include myself) think of middle-grade kind of encompassing all of that. It would be interesting to ask an editor or publisher to define the term middle-grade. Thanks for the post.
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