HOME SCHOOL BOOK REVIEW
Book: The Caterpillar and the Polliwog
Author and Illustrator: Jack Kent
Publisher: Aladdin, republished in 1985
ISBN-13: 978-0756964429 (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0756964423 (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 978-0671662813 (Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0671662813 (Paperback)
Language level: 1
(1=nothing objectionable; 2=common euphemisms and/or childish slang terms; 3=some cursing or profanity; 4=a lot of cursing or profanity; 5=obscenity and/or vulgarity)
Reading level: Ages 4 and up
Rating: 5 stars (EXCELLENT)
Reviewed by Wayne S. Walker
Disclosure: Any books donated for review purposes are in turn donated to a library. No other compensation has been received for the reviews posted on Home School Book Review.
For more information e-mail homeschoolbookreview@gmail.com .
Kent, Jack. The Caterpillar and the Polliwog (originally published in 1981 by Half Moon; republished in 1985 by Aladdin, a division of Simon and Schuster). A proud female caterpillar boasts to all of her friends that, when she grows up, she will turn into a butterfly. She meets a silly little polliwog and relates this story to him. He is fascinated and later learns that he too will change into something else. Therefore, he determines to watch the caterpillar very carefully because he believes that he’ll become a butterfly as well. But that’s not what happens!
This is a wonderful tale that appeals to children and adults alike. There is a great story with a humorous element. Also, it can be used to accompany science studies about creatures that start as one thing and become another, bringing home the fact of metamorphosis. And there is a moral lesson when the polliwog learns to accept himself for who he is. Four to eight year olds will surely enjoy it because it’s not too short and not too long. A couple of other books by Jack Kent are There’s No Such Thing as a Dragon and The Grown-up Day.
homeschoolbookreviewblog 