Cons: More like a mediocre draft, this underdeveloped premiere disappoints.
The Bottom Line: We love the Commander Toad series of books, but think this one is easy to skip past. Start, instead, with Commander Toad and the Space Pirates.
lisandrea's Full Review: Jane Yolen - Commander Toad in Space
I believe this book is the first in the Commander Toad series. Dr. Peeper is missing, as only 4 characters are presented who all seem less developed than in future issues. It falls short in comparison with the rest, and by itself really couldn't sell the series.
First of all, the antagonist, Dark Vapor, doesn't share anything with the Star Wars evil menace of a similar name. He has no helmet, no blackness, no heavy breathing. He is a very weird looking underwater creature of all and no color. He has more in common with Jabba the Hutt than Vader. So, three of the 4 crew members venture to a water-only planet (not the only such planet covered exclusively in water, in this series--see what I call the "Pidgin Toad" book), and land on an inflatable raft, large enough to hold their star skipper afloat. Very quickly they discover great danger in the one alien they encounter--who immediately threatens their safety. He quite literally rocks the boat and they watch, helplessly, as their skipper sinks below the surface.
An unanswered question my son raised is...Whatever happens to that skipper? It is in future books, and yet, here, we do not see it recovered...
But, the way the crew saves themselves (by heating the air in their mattress and causing the inflatable to rise like a hot air balloon), is far beyond impossible. In all these books suspended reality is necessary, and wonderful, but in this case there is a definite "no way" factor. One single match, held at the air hole on the inflatable would not have the effect of heating the internal air--not hot enough, not long enough, not plausible, even for a youngling to believe. Something doesn't sit right with the child who reads this one, and he is left asking, "Huh?"
And it is not necessary to read this book in order to get into this series, because all of them start & end with a signature text that is as yet undeveloped in this first volume--"Brave & Bright Commander Toad." Here, I guess Jane Yolen & Bruce Degan were just "getting their feet wet," so-to-speak! They must have gotten enough interest to continue, because the series takes off like a toad out of a big black hole...or something like that.
Brave Commander Toad and the crew of the spaceship Star Warts have a mission: to go where no spaceship has gone before and to bring a little bit of Ea...More at HotBookSale
Brave Commander Toad and the crew of the spaceship Star Warts have a mission: to go where no spaceship has gone before and to bring a little bit of Ea...More at HotBookSale
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