Carol and the Pickle-Toad

Carol, a pale-skinned girl with a cloud of dark hair, round red spectacles, and striped overalls, has a unique hat. The hat is a toad, humorously portrayed as an amorphous blob, and it orders Carol around mercilessly: “No, no, that’s no good,” the toad opines, dismissing a painting Carol’s working on, “How about me in very tall boots?” One day, the toad-hat is unexpectedly whisked away. Carol feels the loss of companionship, and assembles a substitute out of a pickle and eggs. Because the pickle-toad is less bossy, change comes quickly (“Carol painted all kinds of new things, not just toads”), but it’s not until the pickle-toad is also spirited away that Carol discovers what was really missing in her journey of self-discovery: her own voice. Shapiro (Ooko) employs a wry narrative tone; her gleefully exuberant spreads, created with “watercolor, gouache, collage, matzo ball soup, colored pencils, and a toad,” feature an inclusive group of city denizens, including a cast of varying skin tones and ages. With visual abundance and plenty of silliness, Shapiro’s gentle tale compassionately follows Carol as she learns that she can eat what she wishes, make art, and speak courageously, all on her own. Ages 4–8. [em](May) [/em]