Once Upon a Toad

Cat Starr just turned 12, but she wasn't able to celebrate this birthday the way she would have liked - on a special trip with her mother. Her mom is an astronaut and she was sent, last minute to the International Space Station for 3 months. Cat spent her birthday with her best friend, AJ and his family, but then she was on an airplane to spend the next three months with her dad and step-mom. Her step-mom Iz, is really pretty awesome for a step-mom, her half-brother Geoffrey is also pretty great (even with his terrible car-sickness). But her step-sister Olivia is not someone that Cat can get along with at all. Olivia is kind of the popular type, you know the ones, they think they are amazing and pretty much look down on everyone else. Cat knows in the car on the way to her dad's house that things for the next three months are not going to be pretty. Especially when Olivia and all of her snobby, popular friends call her "Catbox." She calls her mom that night and tells her the whole story and the next day, her great aunt Aby shows up. Aby tells Cat a crazy story about being her fairy godmother, which Cat kind of dismisses as being the crazy ramblings of her great aunt, but the next morning when she wakes up and tries to talk, toads come out of her mouth, along with her words. But what happens to Olivia takes the cake, Olivia has flowers and rare gems coming out of her mouth as she talks. Olivia and Cat must team up and take each other as they are in order to overcome this crazy malady, and there will be some funny moments on the way, but when it matters most, will they be able to learn to be friends?


This was a fun book! I enjoyed the story, when I was a little girl I had a fairy tale book that had a fairy tale in it much like this one. I had never really thought about the problems that having things come out of your mouth when you talk could cause though. I liked the situations in this book, I thought that Cat's prank on Olivia during the talent show was hilarious. Heather Vogel Frederick is one of my favorite authors just because of her Mother-Daughter Book Club books. I hope that she writes more like this one too!

Labels: , ,