About the Author

Susan L. Roth is the author of Creak, Thump, Bonk!, a Simon & Schuster book.

Reviews

PreS-Gr 3‘When a very thirsty frog drinks all of Australia's water, leaving none for the plants or other animals, they try to trick him into opening his mouth so that the water will flow out. Kangaroo, Koala, and Wombat wiggle and jump, but their acrobatics fail to elicit a chuckle from the frog. Two eels, who twist themselves into a slipknot and burst apart like coiled springs, finally succeed in getting him to guffaw, thus releasing so much water that the animals must flee to higher ground. This original tall tale, inspired by "Tiddalik the Flood-maker" from Charles P. Montford's The Dreamtime: Australian Aboriginal Myths in Paintings (Rigby Ltd., 1976; o.p.), contains familiar motifs presented with fresh energy. Appropriately, the crayon-bright red frog overflows the edges of most pages. Brilliantly colored cut-paper collages feature a multitude of textures, including fuzzy white paper that forms the kookaburra's feathers and the koala's ears, and marbleized paper to depict water. This is a title that begs to be shared with a group. Children will love the beasts' zany antics as well as the book's artistic inventiveness.‘Ellen Fader, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR