Superfrog and the Big Stink!

PreS-Gr 3—Frank the frog is spending a leisurely day reading a comic and cooling his toes in a pond, when an old tin can bumps against his foot. Suddenly, oil and rubbish begin floating down a small stream and polluting the water. Frank realizes that something must be done. This is a job for Superfrog. So begins a predictable tale of big business and big pollution, with an amphibian superhero on hand to save the day. But there is something a bit unusual about Superfrog; his main superpower seems to be the ability to pass gas at will. He breathes in until he is three times his normal size and lets "all the air out of his bum" to propel himself like a jet to the city, where he rallies a group of children to storm the office of the chief polluter. Superfrog threatens to blow the man away with a blast from his bottom, and the polluting businessman relents. "Mend the leaking pipes. Clean up the river and recycle all the rubbish. Immediately!" Watercolor illustrations enhance the mood of the story, becoming dark and gray in the dirty city and bright and colorful as the pollution disappears. While the green and clean sentiment is sound, a superpower that adds methane to the already tainted atmosphere might not be the most logical choice for a frog fighting pollution.—Martha Link Yesowitch, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, NC