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Bruce Coville's Jennifer Murdley's Toad is a funny, magical story for 10 year olds about a girl who buys a talking toad for seventy-five cents.
Jennifer's having a terrible week. Her dad has put every pair of her knickers in the wash, so she's had to go to school in her brother's. By break the whole class knows. Then Sharra and her gang chase her down the street, and she ends up somewhere she's never been before.
On that street is a little shop called Elives' Magic Supplies. The grumpy old owner won't sell her one of his proper toads (they're strictly for magicians). But there's one he'll let go cheap.
His name is Bufo, and he talks. A LOT. He's rude and dramatic and brilliant at voices. He does old film stars, the head teacher, even Jennifer herself. He also sulks, demands raw mince in the middle of the night, and makes it very clear he is not a pet. Mr Elives sends a note home with him too, and there's one rule about Bufo in it that Jennifer keeps to herself.
Bufo goes to school in a shoebox, which is where things really go wrong. Who hasn't wanted to get their own back on the class bully? Bufo does it for her. Then he plants a big warty kiss on Sharra, and Sharra turns into a toad.
What makes it more than a madcap caper is Jennifer. She hates mirrors. She's been teased about her looks for so long she's stopped letting herself cry. Her dad once got so fed up with adverts telling her only beautiful people matter that he threw his coffee cup through the telly (quite a moment). You feel all of that as you read, right alongside the jokes.
If your reader has ever felt plain next to the popular kids, this one will land. It's kind about it without being preachy, and it's very funny too. Expect some underpants humour and a little brother who used to eat bugs.
If Mr Elives' shop is the bit they love, it's where Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher begins as well. Jeremy is the shortest boy in his class, and he runs from the bullies straight through that same creaky door.
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