Customer Reviews

Tadpole

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is the summer of 1955 and Carolina Collins feels like the "10 year old runt" of the family who is overshadowed by her older sisters - each named for a state their Daddy visited. There is Kentucky who is the most popular girl in Polly's Fork, Kentucky, Virginia - the prettiest, and Georgia - the smartest. Their mother, Serilda, catches a ride to work each day in order to feed and clothe her girls since their dad has left.

Suddenly their favorite cousin, Tadpole Birch comes to visit. Everybody in Polly's Fork admires Tadpole's talents for "picking and grinning" and the girls look up to him. He bolsters Carolina's confidence in herself and helps her see talent she never knew she had.

Carolina and her family are sad to learn the secret abuse that has forced Tadpole to run away from his Uncle Matthew. Unfortunately, Uncle Matthew wants Tadpole back so he can work the farm, but Tadpole is not a boy to be kept down.

What I liked about this book was the characters. Carolina is a 10year old that we can identify with as she feels like an ugly duckling. Tadpole's character was admirable. In spite of being a victim of abuse, he channeled this toward being empathetic - helping Carolina's mama by running the household chores and working to help pay the bills.

Besides the abusive uncle (the abuse isn't detailed), there are a couple of events one should be aware of and ready to handle when using this book with children. First there was Uncle Matthew's son who shared a room with Tadpole and died mysteriously. We are told that no one knows how he dies, but Tadpole shares with Carolina that Eugene told him goodbye and he was going to a happier place (we don't know if it was connected to abuse or suicide - I inferred that it was suicide, but it was left to the reader to put together). Tadpole also tells some stories of seeing some of his deceased family members. Later in the book Carolina comes to realize that those are ways that Tadpole deals with unpleasant situations - he keeps those loved ones alive by seeing them in the window and the painting.

Overall the message in this book is very uplifting. In spite of hard circumstances, good character can overcome.

Ruth White's tale about the Collins family who lives in a small house in the Kentucky hills in 1955. The family makes up of four little girls Kentucky, Virginia, Georgia and Carolina and their Mama. Their daddy left them when Carolina was a baby. What little electricity they got in the house when they can pay the bill. Their idea of a good time is a trip to town for a hair-do and see one of those Hollywood movies. One day a young fellow by the name of Winston Churchill "Tadpole" Birch comes walking into their lives. He was named Tadpole after he took a dare to swallow a tadpole. Tad had ran away from abusive relatives and now comes to live with the Collins family. He has a talent for singing, playing guitar, he gets neighbors together for social events and gets free passes to the carnival.

The story is laid-back and the dialect is very Southern colloquial. The family are well-adjusted and go through remarkable changes inspite of hard times. They learn important lessons about closeness of family, what home is, keeping your dreams and dealing with child abuse. The story looks at the family in a warm and sensitive way with what little they do have, they have so much. They have each other and their dreams beyond the hills. In Carolina's case she find her special talent. The way she can harmonize with Tadpole's music. Parents who buy this book for younger children may want to consider the theme and content of the story. I think this should be for older children who can understand a very sensitive subject in this story. I find it a good story.

Have you ever read a book that you just couldn't stop reading and you had to find out what was going to happen next? That's how I felt while reading Tadpole. It was such a good book that I had to just keep reading it. That's because the book had a good plot and great character's.
I liked the plot because at times the book was sad but at others, it was happy. Tadpole was trying to find a different home. Uncle Matthew, the owner of the house Tadpole was staying at, didn't treat him right. If he did something wrong, Uncle Matthew would slap Tadpole on the back with a horsewhip. Tadpole ran away to the Collin's house, his cousin's, so he could get away from Uncle Matthew.
The main character's were Tadpole, or Tad, Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia, Georgia, and the girl's mom, Aunt Serilda. I liked them because they all had their own personality's. Kentucky was popular, Virginia was pretty, Georgia was smart, and, well Carolina, she didn't quite know what talent she had, at least until Tadpole came, and that's what I love about him. He is nice, honest, he include's other people, and he helps people too. That's how Carolina found her talent, by Tad. She found that her talent was singing, finding the harmony in music, and also, playing the guitar, she was a natural at it. She could also identify car engines.
As you can see, I really liked this book and I didn't have to say anything bad about it. This book was made up of a great plot, great characters, and so many other reasons!

One mother, four girls, and one fun music loving cousin named makes this a great book. I enjoyed this book because the author had a great style of writing, and the plot of Tadpole was good too.
In Tadpole Ruth White, the author did a great job of writing this book in a way that an eleven year old girl in the south would have talked. Ruth White used words like `cause instead of because, and git instead of get. Details like these makes Tadpole more realistic book.
Tadpole was about a mother, four girls whose father left them because he was tired, and a cousin nick named Tad whose parents had both died. Tad had been living with his abusive uncle Matthew Birch, who had adopted him but, he uses him as free labor until Tad turns 18. One day when Tad's uncle was really mad at him he decided to run away and go to his mother's sister Serilda who lives in a small house with her four daughters. In the middle of the night he goes to his aunts room and tells her all about what his uncle has done to him. Carol who is the youngest and sleeps in the same room as her mother woke up in the middle of their conversation and decided to listen in, so she heard a lot and it became her secret. Mama tried to get a herring with a judge so she can be his legal guardian, but the judge won't hear the case.
This is a great book I it think should have a sequel, to tell more about Tads life and if Uncle Matthew tries to do something to Tad, or if he leaves him alone.

Tad
Have you ever read a book that you didn't want to put down? That's what it was like when I was reading Tadpole. Tadpole was the best book ever! I loved the plot but I thought it was really sad at some parts. I also liked the characters in the book.
I loved the plot of the book because it was sad at certain times but it was happy at other times too. Tad, as he likes to be called, is focused on finding a home where people will take care of him and treat him right. His Uncle Matthew, who has been beating him up, is where Tad has been staying, so he ran away. Tad ran away to his Aunt Serilda's house with her daughters Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, and Virginia. They kept Tad there but he was scared of getting caught by his uncle. Carolina felt like she didn't belong in the family and Tad helped her feel better about herself by helping her discover some of her special talents she didn't even know she had. Like singing, and finding the harmony of songs and she could hear and identify all the different kinds of cars and she would help keep Tad safe if she heard an unfamiliar engine because it might be Uncle Matthew.
I liked the characters in Tadpole too. The characters in the book lived in Kentucky and had a southern accent. The main characters in this book are Tadpole or Tad, Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia, Georgia, and the girls mama and Tad's Aunt Serilda. I liked the characters because each one had a different personality.
I loved this book and as you can see I didn't have anything bad to say about it and if you read it, I'm sure you won't either!

Have you ever read a book that you just can't put down? That's how I felt when I read an amazing book called Tadpole. There were so many exciting sections that made me jump out of my seat. But the best part that I liked was the characters.
The first exciting event was when Tadpole came to Aunt Serilda's house and lived with the four girls for a while. It got me excited because I thought was not going to be that good. It turned out to be very suspenseful. Another section of the book were there was excitement was when when Tadpoles uncle came to their house to find him. When his uncle came it got me very excited because they hid under the bead and it put a picture in my head right away.
The characters were very funny, but one, Uncle Matthew. He was very cruel and mean. He would abuse Tadpole when he lived there, but he eventually escaped. Tad was very entertaining and funny because he played the guitar and sang. The best character was Carolina because, she reminds me of ME! She reminds me of myself because, because she's nice and quiet.

I really liked the book because it was exciting, suspenseful, and the characters were very funny. There are so many more reasons that I liked the book Tadpole and I'd read it again. Maybe, if you read it too, you would like it also.

I read this book as one of the requirements for a organization know as the "Caudill Craze". I really liked this book. It was refreshing in the way it was written and the subject. There are not many books in this time that have a moral like this one. I like the way the author used dialect and didn't use proper grammer in the letters that were written, like the way it would have relly been written in 1955. All in all, I personally really liked this book.

My son states this is an awesome book. He really enjoyed the characters. He learned alot about trials and errors of not having parents.

This is written by my 11 year old daughter:
I thought this book was amazing and it deserves a 5 out of 5.

This book called Tadpole I just couldn't stop reading. There was all of these exciting events. There was also a lot of suspense during the book.
My favorite event was when Tadpole's guardian, Uncle Matthew, came to the house, and Tadpole hid under the bed with Carolina, his cousin. The reason I enjoyed this part was because it made me read more. I couldn't stop reading because I wanted to find out if the uncle would find Tadpole or not. Uncle Matthew came stopping through there front door with an angry look on his face, and yelled out, " Tadpole, Tadpole, come out now!" After about a couple minutes, Uncle Matthew left without Tadpole.
One of the suspenseful things about this book was, when Tadpole went to work, and didn't come back or write them for a really long time. What happened was, Tadpole went off to a store to pay off shoes somebody bought for him. A police man came to Carolinas house, and asked where he was. Tadpole heard about it and hid in the store. After about a couple of days, Tadpole didn't write, or call, or any type of contacting device. Aunt Serilda, Carolina's mom, got really worried, and her eyes began to tear. Finally, Tadpole wrote them a letter explaining everything that he did, and everything that happened while he was gone.
I enjoyed reading this book because of how much suspense there was, and all of the exiting events, and so many more reasons.