Let me start off by saying that my 5-year-old did say she loved this book after I read it to her. She was engaged and interested in Tom and his search. I, however, was a little underwhelmed in terms of the entertainment value of the book, and I felt the story was a bit long-winded. The pictures were somewhat below average. The colors were pretty, and I liked the watercolor style used. The graphics were on the fuzzy side, though, and looked to be made with a computer program that cuts and pastes. Each page featuring Tom showed the exact same toad picture in a different setting. I would like to see a little more attention to detail in a picture book, especially for our little main character. I do think this book has some educational value and could be used as part of a children's science lesson. The Strawberry Toad would be useful to help kids learn a little about seasonal toad habitats and how to appropriately interact with toads in nature. I am rating this book with three stars as a compromise between my opinion and that of my daughter, who better fits the demographic for whom the book was written.

LitPick Addendum: After careful consideration and editorial deliberation, we decided to adjust the star rating of The Strawberry Toad to a four, weighting the rating slightly higher because of the positive appeal it received from the demographic for which it was written.