Children’s Literature Evaluation Form

Your Name: Alexa Tribuli

Book Title: Tadpole to Frog
Author: Christopher Raxworthy
Genre: Informational
Illustrator: John Boud, Derek Croucher, Tim Gainey, Brian Bevan/Ardea, Paul van
Hoof, Jane Burton Tim Hunt
Publisher/Year: Sterling Children’s Books / 2017
Evaluate the Book for the following elements
Style and Language: Using examples for the book, explain the following: Word
choices, dialogue, rhythm, rhyme and sentence length.

Word Choices:
This book is very informative and uses the correct terms for the phases of a frog’s
lifecycle. Some very great vocabulary is life cycle, tadpole, gills, algae,
metamorphosis, and amphibians.

Dialogue:
There is no dialogue in this book.

Rhythm:
This book has a steady rhythm. The book is very straight forward without any big
changes in the storyline.

Rhyme:
There is no rhyming in this book.

Sentence Length:
Most sentences are short. This helps to slowly explain the information and life cycle
of a frog. This makes it easier to pause to extend on the information in every
sentence.

Character: With examples from the book, provide the following- (5 points)
Who is the main character?
How can the reader relate to the character?
Who are the supporting characters?
Main Character:
Frogs

Relate to Main Character:

All living things go through their own life cycles.

Supporting Characters:
There are no supporting characters.

Plot: Summarize the major events of the story (6 points)

1. Mom and Dad frog lay thousands of eggs.

2. Frogs hatch from the eggs, but they are called tadpoles at this stage in their
lifecycle.
3. Tadpoles live underwater, breath through gills, long tails to help swim.
4. Tadpoles eat small plants and algae.
5. Legs start to grow.
6. Tail begins to shrink.
7. Tadpoles grows arms and now is a young frog, called a froglet.
8. Froglet is almost ready to leave the water. Tail is small stump, and the gills are
starting to disappear.
9. Metamorphosis is complete! The tadpole is now a frog. The frog now has new
lungs.
10. Frog swims in the pond They are amphibius, meaning they live both in water
and land.
11. After two years, frogs are adults now and can eat insects, snails, and worms.

Setting: Explain the place and time of this book. (2 points)

Theme: What is the main message of this book? (2 points)

Setting:
A pond in current times.

Theme:
Life cycle of the frog.
Illustration: Analyze the book you selected with the following categories
Style (realism, surrealism, expressionism, impressionism, naïve, cartoon art)? (2
points)

No illustrations, all images are photographs.

Media Choice (paints, oils watercolors, pencils, pen, charcoal, crayons, acrylic, chalk):
(2 points)

Photographs

Give examples of describe how the following visual elements are used in the
illustrations:

Line:
There are no straight or very thick lines, all photos are of frogs in their natural
habitat.

Shapes:
No drawn shapes, all shapes are the natural shapes of tadpoles throughout the stages
of its lifecycle.

Color:
The brightness and lightness of the photographs are very bright, all photos are easy
to see fully and there are no dark spots.

Texture:
You can see the texture of the frogs through all the stages of its life cycle.

Page design (placement of the illustrations, use of borders, white and dark space and
all pages the same or different).

The pages are either completely covered in large photos or there is a purple of green
background behind cropped photos and text.
Child Development Theory: Choose either Piaget, Erickson or Social Emotional to
describe the connection to the book Chose 1 only (5 points)
Piaget:
Stage: Preoperational Stage
Age: 2-7 years old
Explain the cognitive development:
Children at this age begin to be able to internally represent the world around them
“through language and mental imagery” (McLeod). Children are just beginning to think
symbolically. Thinking is very subjective and egocentric. This stage correlates to the
book because of the children’s straightforward thought process. When reading this
book, children in this stage are able to get a straightforward and simple beginning
explanation toward other living things lifecycles.

Recommendation:

Your rating of the book: 3

Why?
I really like how this book does not simplify the words and uses the real technical
terms for the process of a frog’s life cycle. I also really like how the book also gives
simple explanations for what the larger words mean. For example in the end of the
book the author used the word “amphibians” and then explain it by saying that frogs
can live in water and on land.