TOAD RAGE

Ugliness may be only skin deep, but that turns out to be deep enough in this droll odyssey from Down Under. Puzzled as to why humans seem willing to go out of their way to turn any of his species that they catch into roadkill, Limpy, a cane toad, leaves off his morbid hobby of collecting flattened relatives to discover why—and put a stop to it. After several harebrained schemes, including a campaign to have cane toads declared Official Olympic Mascots, come to naught in hilariously chaotic fashion, he organizes a Nonhuman Games for crocodiles, fleas, kangaroos, and other failed mascot contenders—only to be declared too hideously warty to participate. In the end, Limpy does nothing for his species’ image, but returns to his roadside swamp a hero nonetheless, having learned a quick method of escaping oncoming motorists from a human pole vaulter. Along with a plot filled with hair’s-breadth escapes and silly turns, this toad’s-eye view of human society provides both solid entertainment and a barbed commentary on the importance of looks. Worth a squiz. (Aussie glossary) (Fiction. 10-12)