Pros: If your child likes any of the Commander Toad books, add this to your collection.
Cons: Word play might be more difficult for younger audiences.
The Bottom Line: Yes, yes! Love these books. This is a bit odd & unusual, but that's the joy of it, isn't it? The depth of this tale will increase as child ages.
lisandrea's Full Review: Jane Yolen - Commander Toad and the Dis-Asteroid
After renewing our library copies time and again, I decided my son's 4th birthday was a good excuse for buying him his three favorite "epitoads" of the Commander Toad series. Of all the books he's read, he included this one, the pirate tale and Planet of the Grapes.
When someone is said to "speak pidgin" it means they are using "any simplified or broken form of a language, esp. when used for communication between speakers of different languages," per http://dictionary.reference.com/. In other words, if two people who do not share a common language are trying to speak with one another, the conversation is often stilted with a smattering of nouns and improperly conjugated verbs--but when close attention is paid to the intention of the speaker, meaning can be found.
Missing meaning is what causes a terrible misunderstanding between Starfleet and the helpless pigeons (i.e birds, who also happen to speak pidgin!) of a flooded planet. Flooding is a common theme in Yolen's Commander Toad books--planets are covered with water and a few times. In this case, the pigeon's world has suffered a bean bloat.
The brave and courageous crew of Starwarts receives a distress call and command from Starfleet to go--help the troubled inhabitants of a distant planet where they have called out, simply, "Beans swell!"
Thinking the great need is for more "swell," or fantabulous legumes, the Starwarts crew loads up on every variant imaginable--lima, navy, pinto! You name it! When they gain on the planet, however, they see that thousands of birds are flying tirelessly over the water-soaked sphere that was once their home. They do not need more fine, or "swell" beans! The beans they had in their villages absorbed water from a downpour and swelled so full as to actually stop up the drainage system of their whole world and flood everything!
Here we see Commander Toad's bravery tested more than ever before--will he take on the challenge of diving down into the murky depths to pry the beans loose from their tragic sticking-points? Is he bright enough to become a hero to the pidgin pigeons?
Of course he is! And as he punctures the beans, a certain flatulence releases the plug--another funny peek into the insanely brilliant mind of Ms. Jane Yolen! Her imagination is full of puns and witticisms that put any other children's author to the purest of shame! Pigeons who speak pidgin! Beans that release gas! A toad that must dive under water as if he were (gulp) a frog! It is very funny stuff--I wish I had been able to read these blithe books when I was 4 or 5 or 6! Or, in this case, even 10, 11 or 12! Well-rounded, Ms. Jane Yolen! Well-illustrated Mr. Bruce Degen. My son & I thank you.
When Commander Toad and the crew of the Star Warts learn that a disaster has struck an asteroid, they race across the galaxy to the rescue. But it s h...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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