Publisher's Synopsis: Hop back on the road with Toad! In this fun-fueled follow-up to the Geisel Honor award-winning picture book Towed by Toad, from Caldecott Medal honoree Jashar Awan, Toad discovers that everyone makes mistakes, even tow truck drivers! For fans of Little Blue Truck and Frog and Toad.
Little ones. Big ones. Everyone makes mistakes . . . even Toad!
Toad and his tow truck are on the go, racing to the rescue of anyone who needs help on the road. But still, Toad always obeys the rules and NEVER makes mistakes. He waits patiently for the green light. Wait for it . . . wait for it . . . GO! . . . Uh oh.
What happens when Toad does make a mistake? After all, everyone makes mistakes — what really matters is how you fix them!
My Two Cents: This just happens to be my first book review bite in a very VERY long time. I had my first grandchild in July 2024 and have been his daily caregiver since then. Honestly, I would have just added a quick opinion on Library Thing and Good Reads, like I've been doing for years now, if not for said grandson.
See, he grabbed Toad on the Go from my TBR stack and would not let me have it back! He made up his own little jibberish tale about Toad and has been fully enthralled for the last three days. Thus, my Little Man is the inspiration for returning to this dusty blog.
I had skimmed Awan's previous Geisel Honor book Towed by Toad, but never read it fully. Guess I need to change that because this is a stellar choice for the preschool age child. There's so much happening in this seemingly simple tale and the illustrations are wonderfully complementary. The story has a light alliterative rhyming scheme with just the right amount of words. The illustrations are colorful and angular, but my grandson instantly said, "horse" so they are also identifiable. Each new scene is fully realized in both word economy and illustrative inference.
There's much to talk about when the words and/or illustrations don't overwhelm a child's developmental capabilities. Because my grandson is just barely two, we talked about the color symbols and words for go, slow, and stop. We identified the animals and vehicles. He learned the word toad (not just frog). We talked about the things dropping out of a moving truck (he loves that page). Later, I'm sure we'll discuss making mistakes and taking responsibility; but for now, we just discussed "uh, oh" and "crash." In the end, I told him, "It's okay. They can fix the car" reassuringly.
Highly recommend Toad on the Go for toddler caregivers, preschools, and libraries.
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Genre: Animal Tales
Age: 3-7 years, but my just two year old grandson would argue that!
Themes include: Making Mistakes, Responsibility, Positive Attitude.
Pages: 48
Thank You: Library Thing and Tundra Books for my copy
Parent Advisory: None
Publisher: Tundra
Date: June 16, 2026
ISBN: 978-1774883501
Buy Toad on the Go Here
From the Author on YouTube:
--------------- That's all folks! ---------------
© 2007-2026 Dr. Cheryl Vanatti, education and reading specialist writing at www.ReadingRumpus.com
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is a nice addition to the PK-1st classroom. The story is about the cat, Princess Puffybottom (every bit as stuffy as her name sounds) gaining a new member of the family, a pup named Darryl. At first glance this picture book seems a simple dog/cat tale, but the illustrations tells a different story.
is mostly a bedtime book for small pre-school age children, but I wanted to give it a spot on here because it may not get a lot of buzz in the US (Canadian folks involved) and it has some strong merit in the bedtime story department. There's lots of humor complimented by very interesting and elaborated illustrations. I like the idea that the "mom knows best and is always there for you" as that is clearly part of my own favorite picture book (Reading Rumpus didn't get named accidentally!).
Brendan Wenzel has created another picture book winner with 
Filled with bright, moving creatures, 
is a lovely picture book for both pre-readers and beginning readers. Told in flowing cadence and rhyme, it tells the story of day's end turning to night and then ends with the closing of eyes to darkness, only to open again to morning. This is a great vehicle for foreshadowing and inference (what happened while the eyes were closed?). Because the vocabulary is limited, and there are numerous spelling repetitions due to the rhyme scheme, it also makes a good book for beginning readers (though the topic might be a bit young, the idea that they can actually read the words usually supersedes that!). Information on various creatures and objects of the night is given on the last page, making for further discussion and future investigations.
is a cute concept. Not my area of expertise, but I remember my own daughter's fascination with my purse and think this would have been a hit thirty years ago. The leading questions ask the reader to make inferences about why each object is in character's purse. Adults could expand upon these toward fantastic inferential conversations (evidence-based text for the preschool set = Common Core thought processes) where the child would have to use the objects to expound further. To top it off, the little carry handle will make this a totable favorite.
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