In this title, join a tiny toad as she embarks on a long journey to lay her eggs in a pond. Along the way, she must avoid inquisitive pet dogs, a hungry snake, and a busy road. The book combines repetitive text with high-frequency and familiar sight words. Unfamiliar vocabulary is supported by detailed photographic images with labels, close photo/text matches, and a picture glossary. Gr 1-3-Narrative text describes several experiences of a single animal, introducing key facts along the way. In Toad, for instance, a female leaves her burrow, avoids some predators, mates, lays eggs, hunts, and returns to the burrow. Photographs show the various steps, providing strong visual context. Eye-catching images of a harvest mouse climbing grass stems and building a nest, for example, support the textual content that describes those actions. The emphasis on behavior and life cycle results in focused, concise information that younger readers can successfully absorb and remember. Selected statistics, such as the number of feet a mole digs per day, are useful without overwhelming readers. While not all photos are of the same featured animal as the narrative suggests, they look similar enough to avoid confusion. VERDICT Successful mix of narrative, facts, and photographs for young elementary schoolers.α(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. Ruth Owen has written more than one thousand children’s books. She writes on many subjects, but science and nature are her favorite topics to research and make accessible for young readers.