McToad Mows Tiny Island

by Tom Angleberger Narrated by Richard Poe

Overview

McToad likes Thursdays. Why? Because on every other day of the week, McToad mows Big Island, but on Thursdays, McToad mows Tiny Island. To do so, he puts his mower on the back of a truck, which drives to a train, which goes to a helicopter, which flies to a boat, which uses a crane to put the lawn mower onto Tiny Island. There McToad mows and drinks some lemonade, and before you know it, it's time to turn around and go back home. But first, the mower has to get lifted by a crane, to get put back on a boat, which is lifted by a helicopter, and . . . well . . . you get the idea.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

★ 06/08/2015
Angleberger’s (Crankee Doodle) sly charmer is a gift to any reader besotted with engines, motors, and combustible fuel. His toad hero, McToad, has a weekly routine: “Every other day of the week he mows the grass on... Big Island. But Thursday is the day he mows... Tiny Island.” It’s not the mowing that’s so interesting, but the process by which McToad’s bright red riding lawnmower gets to Tiny Island, a sequence that involves a truck, train, helicopter, and more. Hendrix (Shooting at the Stars), who might be a bit of a gearhead himself, lavishes attention on the details—exhaust pipes, crane assemblies, securing straps, and more—and his playful hand-lettered type makes every step of McToad’s journey feel special. After the spate of transportation mania is complete and McToad arrives on Tiny Island, readers will be amused to find that its lawn is roughly the size of the mower itself. It’s an unabashed celebration of the pleasure of using big machines to move things around—just because. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Caryn Wiseman, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. Illustrator’s agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House. (Sept.)

Booklist

With large, zany illustrations and rapidly escalating hilarity, this lark of a book is sure to entertain big-machine-loving kids during storytime.”

Booklist

With large, zany illustrations and rapidly escalating hilarity, this lark of a book is sure to entertain big-machine-loving kids during storytime.”

School Library Journal

09/01/2015
PreS-Gr 2—McToad, apparently the owner and sole proprietor and employee of McToad Lawn Care, Inc., mows Big Island every day of the week—except Thursdays. That's the day he reserves for Tiny Island. And what a production it is to get his revved-up mower there, which is the whole point of the book, a vehicle lover's treat. In order to carry the mower all the way to the minuscule patch of grass, McToad relies on various modes of transport and other conveyances, including a truck, train, forklift, airplane, helicopter, boat, and crane. Readers will note with a chuckle that once the mower is actually there the job is easily dispatched, since the mower looks to be the same size as the island. Then transporting it back home occurs in reverse, and young readers are offered a nifty exercise in mapping and sequencing along the way. There's little story here, but transportation enthusiasts probably won't mind or care; they'll simply appreciate the round-trip journey and the bright smile McToad wears as he makes it. The pen and ink and acrylic illustrations are boldly colored and full of energy and humor (witness the sly visual references to the author's famed "Origami Yoda" books), and the name of each vehicle or conveyance is rendered in hand lettering in different sizes, fonts, and colors, making each word stand out. VERDICT A must-have bit of silliness for vehicle mavens everywhere.—Carol Goldman, Queens Library, NY

Kirkus Reviews

2015-06-23
McToad likes Thursdays, the day he mows Tiny Island.Every Thursday, he rides the mower out of the shed onto his big truck and puts the mower onto a train with a forklift. The train takes the mower to the airport, where it is carried by conveyor belt to an airplane. The mower is flown to the other side of the island, where a baggage buggy takes it to a helicopter that transports it to a dock. There, it is lowered by crane onto a boat, then sailed to the island. The island is truly tiny; in fact the mower takes up most of the small lawn that sits atop the island. The task at hand is swiftly completed (after a sip of lemonade for McToad and an oil refill for the tractor), and an arrowed diagram shows the mower returning home by the same route in reverse. The book jacket proclaims this "a transportation tale," and it certainly covers a dizzying array of modes, but at a time when the scientific community—and even the pope—is issuing ever sterner warnings about climate change, it's hard not to see McToad's weekly odyssey as anything but an unnecessary journey and a profligate consumption of resources. The black smoke issuing from McToad's tractor chimney throughout as well as the patent ludicrousness of the entire endeavor only serves to emphasize this. Hendrix's richly detailed, brightly colored spreads make the book visually engaging, but on the whole it feels out of sync with evolving sensibilities and awareness. (Picture book. 3-5)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171083250
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	09/01/2015
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

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