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Toad on the Road: A Cautionary Tale – A Rhyming Picture Book with Call-and-Response for Children

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With bouncy call-and-response text and vivid illustrations, this lively picture book from author-illustrator Stephen Shaskan is sure to have readers giggling along with Toad's silly antics. A perfect read-aloud!

Who’s that coming down the road?

Oh yikes! Oh yikes!

It’s a bear on a bike.

 

32 pages, Hardcover

First published May 16, 2017

1 person is currently reading
108 people want to read

About the author

Stephen Shaskan

60 books49 followers

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5 stars
91 (21%)
4 stars
162 (38%)
3 stars
133 (31%)
2 stars
29 (6%)
1 star
4 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews
Profile Image for Angie.
3,697 reviews56 followers
January 23, 2018
Did momma set up the toad so she would get more business for her towtruck? Inquiring minds want to know!
25 reviews
September 25, 2018
Toad on the frog! Ha! Just kidding. There's a bear riding a bike and once everyone freaked out. The bear said, "Skedaddle! Get out of the road before you get run over!" Puff! Scream! "What is your Mom gonna say?" Oh No! There's a Toad on the Road! And then, there is a Vole in a Van!

Did you like the book? Yes.

Once there was his Mom, a toad, on the road.

Is there anything you liked best about the book. Yes, the mother. And the heart at the end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Mary Lee.
3,269 reviews54 followers
May 5, 2017
So much fun for little ones and language learners! Rhyme, repetition, foreshadowing in the illustrations, big loud onomatopoeia.
Profile Image for Grant Fontenot.
17 reviews3 followers
October 30, 2017
Cute, if a little repetitive. I suppose that's the point though. If you're children like playing in the road. Read this to them and hope they make the metaphoric leap from a baby toad to themselves. Alternatively, they might just attempt to save every toad that stumbles into the street, which might be counterproductive.
633 reviews2 followers
October 18, 2017
Cute story! Great illustrations and rhyming text will appeal to preschoolers especially!
Profile Image for Barbara.
474 reviews48 followers
November 19, 2018
Adorable book for preschoolers. Repetitive text lets little ones "read" with you.
Profile Image for Craig Schorling.
2,438 reviews11 followers
July 27, 2021
This book was a lot of fun to read with the kids. They got the hang of it early on and we had a blast reading all the lines together.
Profile Image for Cristina Quattrone.
482 reviews6 followers
April 18, 2024
Super addictive rhyme. My toddler loves to fill in the blanks when I pause. Other family members think toad in the road is part of his mom’s tow business and scams people into crashing. Must know if others believe this as well!!!
Profile Image for Jennifer.
1,174 reviews15 followers
October 14, 2017
Haha! The illustrations crack me up, and there's a fun opportunity for sound effects. Really want to try this one out at storytime.
Profile Image for Mama Bibliosoph.
271 reviews18 followers
July 5, 2017
This cute and catchy story combines three great elements: vehicles, physical comedy, and a repeating storyline. And wow, is my son Luke ever obsessed with it.

A little toad plays on the road, but Oh no! Oh no!, we can see the silhouette of a vehicle approaching. Who's that coming down the road? The text asks and the child tries to guess the vehicle based on the shape of the silhouette. An additional phonemic clue (i.e. Oh, yikes! Oh, yikes! It's a...) will encourage some kids to guess the vehicle as you turn the page to where its revealed (Bear on a bike!). The vehicle swerves to avoid harming the toad (SKID! SCREECH! BANG!) and is trashed, but everyone is fine. After a few cycles of this, the last vehicle to arrive is a truck driven by the toad's mother, who finally yanks the little toad off the road.

Funny and predictable, this is a truly wonderful book for a child who benefits from interactive opportunities, physical humor, sound effects, and a strong repeating structure to attend to a book. Side bonus? A safety message about staying out of roadways!

****
I review books for children from the perspective of a parent of kids with autism. The review above is from a longer blog post about the best new books of 2017: http://www.lineupthebooks.com/summer-...
Profile Image for Robin.
4,516 reviews7 followers
July 14, 2017
Really cute for preschoolers, especially when they are old enough to use the context clues to guess the next vehicle coming down the road.
Profile Image for Peggy Archer.
Author 13 books20 followers
July 10, 2017
A simple story told in rhyme about a toad sitting in the road, and the characters who try to avoid running into it. They all ask, 'What do you think your mama would say?' At the end we find out.
Profile Image for Juliana Lee.
2,272 reviews42 followers
June 19, 2017
Oh no! Oh no! There's a toad in the road! Little Toad causes several traffic accidents by playing in the road until finally his mother arrives driving a tow truck. She gets him out of the road and cleans up the accidents.
Profile Image for Sheri.
2,578 reviews9 followers
June 10, 2017
This cautionary tale about a toad on the road is fun and repeats a warning before the accidents happen. Lots rhyme and rhythm in this story and fun for the children to join in with the repeated parts. I would read this aloud to kids in preschool and lower elementary grades they would love the repeat and joining in.
842 reviews
October 4, 2017
This will make a great read-a-loud for active participation.
Profile Image for Katie Dicesare.
139 reviews7 followers
October 3, 2017
Love the repetition, the illustrations--especially the shadow like clues that students can use to guess who's coming down the road. Very fun and engaging for young readers.
Profile Image for Erin Murphy.
146 reviews1 follower
July 28, 2017
This is a cute book and it is very fun to read! I think it would really well as a elementary school read aloud. It's very interactive and I think the story will make the kids laugh :)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews

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