Once Upon a Toad

by Heather Vogel Frederick

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Age group: 10+
Type: fantasy

Catriona Starr--everybody calls her Cat--is a perfectly normal girl living in Texas, except for the fact that her mother is a divorced astronaut and is going to the International Space Station for a while and now she has to go live with her Dad in Oregon. Her stepmother, Iz, is okay, and her little brother Geoffrey may be a barf bucket but is still nice. What she really hates is her hatefully evil stepsister Olivia. But it's either them or her eccentric Great-Aunt Abyssinia, who lives in an RV.
Olivia finds new ways to be extra-mean to Cat, like making a tap dancing routine to make fun of Cat with her tap dancing group, or coming up with a nickname: Catbox. Cat seeks out Great-Aunt Abyssinia for help--and the very next day, she wakes up spitting toads every time she speaks! Not only that, but Olivia's producing diamonds and flowers!!! Oh, the unfairness!!! But before long, a man steals Geoffrey and makes the family an exchange: give him Olivia or no more Geoffrey. Cat needs to protect Olivia but also get Geoffrey back! Luckily, Great-Aunt Aby is helping... and she isn't just a senior citizen. Will they manage to save both Olivia and Geoffrey? Or will Olivia and Cat's enemy-ship mess up the whole thing?

This book has humor and serious-ness in it. Mostly it is funny because it is unfair and the author does a very good job of telling it from Cat's point of view. Olivia is really very mean, but since Cat has toads on her side, she can provide humorous revenge. There are some funny moments, like when Cat first realizes it's the talking that's making toads and she ends up with 29 toads that she has to capture and get rid of. Plus they end up going to Las Vegas!

PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: no.
Violence: no
Fighting: duh! yes!
Kissing/romance: 2 people get married, thanks to Cat and Olivia's help
Pregnancy: no
Stealing: no
Vandalizing: no
***There are girls pretending to be boys, a lot of the FBI, and a man threatening to take a girl into custody. Also there is a bald Elvis, a pie waitress, a fairy godmother, and a wind instruments quartet.