Frogger

Alison Mews is co-ordinator of the Centre for Instructional Services at
Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Thaddeus “Frogger” Archibald is a responsible, cooperative
11-year-old who has one misadventure after another, all of them caused
by the very adults he tries to help. In order to purchase the expensive
sneakers that he thinks will ensure basketball success, he agrees to
babysit the Terrible Troth Twins—but he loses the job though the
interference of a crazy octogenarian. The mishaps continue to multiply
until the local fair, where Frogger’s fortune finally turns. He wins a
pie-eating contest; buys the sneakers, albeit mismatched, from an
unusual girl named Bug; and saves the twins’ mother from being
trampled by a horse.

Lighthearted and fast-paced, this is the first novel in the new
Adventures of Bug and Frogger series by the former picture-book
collaborators. Edwards has peopled the deceptively quiet town of
Tichburg with an eccentric arrangement of characters and Bianchi’s
cartoon sketches gives them comic expression. Children will enjoy this
amusing triumph over the peculiarities of adults, and gleefully watch
for the next volume. Recommended.