MAMA AND ME

Mama and Toad and their bright red tow truck save several friends from roadside mishaps.

“Mama and Toad out on the road. / Go, Mama, go! Go, little toad! / Why, who’s that friend / around the bend? / Alas! Alas! / It’s a… // Goat out of gas!” Mama and Toad know just what to do to get the driver of the truck labeled “Bob’s Bounce Houses” back on the road. They also encounter a “Fox with a flat” and a “Moose in the muck” whose balloons and pizza (both also from Bob’s) need to be delivered. Shaskan’s digital illustrations have a Saturday-morning–cartoon look, with their bright, flat colors and simple backgrounds. In a nice touch, small Toad, who uses a car seat, is shown getting their hands dirty with each rescue, pouring the gas, jacking up the car, even removing the lug nuts. In the end, the toads and their friends wind up in the same place: a party thanking the two for all their help. That’s a puzzler since not only do the toads encounter their friends when they are going in opposite directions on the road, but their friends were getting ready for the party before the toads had helped any of them. Plus, the rhythm of the repeated refrain rests on those reading aloud forcing the enunciation of all four syllables of “delivery.”

Those training to take over the family business, like Toad, may find this amusing, but others should steer clear.