Tadpole's Promise

by Jeanne Willis, Tony Ross (Illustrations)

The award-winning, unpredictable picture book from this best-selling author/artist team is now available for the first time in paperback. Tadpole loves his rainbow friend, the caterpillar, and she tells him she loves everything about him. "Promise that you will never change," she says. But as the seasons pass and he matures, his legs grow, and then his arms—and what happens to his beautiful rainbow friend? As he sits on his lily pad, digesting a butterfly, Tadpole little realizes that now he will never know! Follow the predictable changes of a tadpole and a caterpillar to their natural conclusion in this award winning picture book.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, Humor, Science, Love, Friendship

32 pages, Paperback

First published April 24, 2003

About the author

Jeanne Willis was born in St Albans and trained as an advertising copywriter at Watford College. She worked for various agencies creating press adverts and TV, cinema and radio commercials. She is now a full-time writer and has published over 80 books. Her hobbies include gardening, reading (non-fiction), natural history and collecting caterpillars. Jeanne has also worked on scripts for TV, including POLLY POCKET and THE SLOW NORRIS, and a pilot TV series for DR XARGLE. She lives in North London with her husband and two children.

Reviews

[Miss Ravi · Rating 4 out of 5]

داستان این کتاب درباره‌ی عشق شدید، قدیمی و عمیق یه کرم به یه بچه‌قورباغه‌اس که در دنیای ما عجیب و غیرواقعی به نظر میاد اما داستان بیش از حد واقعی و در انتها بدون پایان مورد انتظار و دلخواه خواننده‌اس. نه این‌که داستان بخواد بهت بگه همیشه هم نباید منتظر پایان خوش بود، بلکه داره از نیروی واقعیت حرف می‌زنه که لازمه پذیرش فرازونشیب‌های زندگیه. قطعا نمی‌تونم تصور کنم بچه‌ای که این داستان رو می‌شنوه در پایان داستان، بعد از کاری که قورباغه می‌کنه چه حسی بهش دست می‌ده و چه سوالاتی تو ذهنش میاد اما منِ بزرگسال جا خوردم و سیلی واقعیت رو روی صورتم حس کردم. با این‌که کاملا طرفدار تخیل هستم و در ارتباطم با هر بچه‌ای که دوروبرم بوده همیشه کلی در و پنجره رو به دنیاهای خیالی براش باز کردم ولی نبودن تخیل بیش از حد در این داستان آزارم نمی‌ده. درست شبیه اون لحظه‌ی هفت سالگی که ژاکت آبی رنگت با دکمه‌های درشت قرمز که تموم زمستون سال قبل تنت می‌کردی و باهاش تو کوچه پس‌کوچه‌های کودکیت می‌دویدی دیگه اندازه‌ات نیست اما ناراحت نمی‌شی، دلت هم نمی‌شکنه، فقط یه صدای آروم و لطیف می‌شنوی که برای این لحظه‌ات می‌خونه: ای هفت سالگی، ای لحظه‌های شگفت عزیمت و اون وقت واقعیت رو می‌‌بینی که صبور و آرام خزیده وسط زندگیت.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book quite fascinating! After reading the text, I decided to think on it for a while before reviewing.

Over the years I have learned that friendships come in many forms and last from just a few days to a few years, or perhaps even a lifetime. Friendships may have seasons and wax and wane like the moon. Some friends will remain with us through the storms of life, while others may fade away after a single season.

This book illustrates the friendship between an unlikely pair, a tadpole and a caterpillar. "She was his beautiful rainbow, and he was her shiny black pearl." Each wants the other to remain exactly as they are at that moment in time. However, promises are difficult to keep even when made with the best of intentions and they have no control over their circumstances.

Life keeps moving forward and onward. Things change and inevitably, they let each other down. There is an opportunity for the relationship to evolve and the friends to experience the healing power of forgiveness.

Finally, because of the evolving nature of life and relationships friendships may end due to our own action, or lack of it, or change in circumstances, such as when a friend moves far away. In this case the frog actively ends the friendship and then mourns the loss.

This may be a good resource for teaching children about the changing nature of friendship.

The illustrations are lovely and span both pages on each double-page spread making it necessary to hold the book with the spine in the horizontal position, rather than the traditional vertical position.

[Kayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not for the faint-at-heart adult, but great for every child with a sadistic side (and what child doesn't have a hidden or not-so-hidden sadistic side), including every first-grade boy in the world. I read with a high, squeaky voice for the caterpillar and a low, stopped-up-nose voice for the tadpole. Read around Valentine's Day, if possible...introduce by asking who likes mushy love stories, then tell them that this isn't one. Great when paired with a lesson on life cycles. Read aloud to the group, but give them the opportunity to look at the pictures by themselves later, since there are so many things going on in pictures.

[Becca Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first read this book a year or so ago, I found the ending particularly shocking and a little bit horrible (although I may have had a little giggle!).
However, this book highlights that not all story's end 'happily ever after', and really, that's just how real life is!

I was lucky enough to see a whole term of work across the curriculum based around this book when I returned to my SBT2 school for the summer term (it's a storytelling school). I found it really interesting to see how this book can be used across the curriculum, from Science and English, to PSHE and PE!

[Katie Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best picture book EVER. I found this sometime in college when I was student teaching and I read it to my high school senior students. They were baffled, saddened and confused. Eighteen year old boys said, "That's messed up." Ever since then I've read it to all the classes I taught. I've read it to my boyfriend, roommates, and several coworkers. I need to carry a copy of it with me in my car, because you never know when you'll find a chance to read it to someone. SO GOOD.

[کیه!؟ · Rating 5 out of 5]

بسم الله...

این داستان کاملا واقعی است!

دلم ریش شد! با خودم می‌گویم این رسم روزگار است و قبل از اینکه پسرم خودش تجربه کند و دلش ریش شود، بهتر است در کتاب‌ها بخواند و آویزه گوشش کند!

شاید هر مادر دیگری باشد با خودش بگوید: «دنیای شاد و کودکانه فرزندم را با داستانی از واقعیت دنیا خراب نکنم.» اما من، وقتی پسرم هشت یا نه سالش شد، کتاب "قول بچه قورباغه" را برای او هدیه می‌گیرم و مادرانه به او می‌گویم این یک داستان است اما امکان دارد برای هر آدمی در دنیا اتفاق بیافتد.

قول بچه قورباغه یک کتاب کوتاه 22 صفحه‌ای است که در داستانی کودکانه اما تاثیرگذار، قوانین طبیعت را در عشق میان یک کرم و یک بچه قورباغه به تصویر می‌کشد که برای بزرگترها هم، خواندنی و جذاب است.

"جین ویلیسِ" نویسنده اگرچه یک کتاب کودک نوشته اما توانسته است یک ماجرای تلخ را که هر انسانی در زندگی ممکن است تجربه کند به بهترین و کوتاه‌ترین شکل ممکن در قالب کتاب کودک به تصویر بکشد.

او با واژه‌هایی ساده و کودکانه در داستانی با پیرنگ و تعلیق مناسب، مفاهیمی عمیق و دردناک را به کودک انتقال می‌دهد؛ اینکه هر موجودی برای دنیایی آفریده شده که متعلق به آن است، اینکه دنیا همیشه در حال تغییر است و هیچ‌گاه ثابت نمی‌ماند و اینکه کبوتر با کبوتر، باز با باز...

جین ویلیس، نویسنده هنرمندی است که داستان دردناکش را با جملاتی ساده و قشنگ شروع می‌کند: «آن جا که درخت بید به آب رسید، یک بچه قورباغه و یک کرم همدیگر را دیدند. آن‌ها توی چشم‌های ریز هم نگاه کردند و عاشق هم شدند...

22/11/99

[Lance · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is an odious little yarn. This book has no coherence, no charm, no subtlety, no warmth, no message, and no redeeming features.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a currently a LSA in a SEN school and this book was to read to six year five pupils. I have chosen this book to review due to the unexpected ending, which is unusual for the majority of children’s books of this type. The book was chosen as it covers the topic of change, the current curriculum topic theme. The story also has good cross curricular links to science with a life cycle theme and PSHE with issues such as separation anxiety and death. This book in my opinion is also an excellent resource for teaching and recognising other people’s emotions, of which pupils with SEN may experience difficulty with.

The book’s story is based around a caterpillar and a tadpole who fall in love. The caterpillar asks the tadpole to promise that he will never change; the tadpole intends to keep this promise. However, each time they meet the tadpole changes by growing legs, arms and by losing his tail, eventually turning into a frog. At each stage both the caterpillar and tadpole are unaware of why these changes are happening and the caterpillar believes the tadpole is breaking his promise by changing each time. After each change, the caterpillar forgives the tadpole for changing whilst still declaring her love for him and forgiving him. The ultimate twist of this story is that the tadpole eventually evolves into a frog whilst the caterpillar turns into a butterfly and the frog jumps out of the water and eats the butterfly! The frog then sits alone waiting for the caterpillar to return, unbeknown to the frog she will never return as he has just eaten her.

The illustrations within this book are excellent and demonstrate to the reader what is happening on each page, especially when the tadpole grew arms and legs to display these changes. The illustrations also complement the text by showing the emotions of each character such as the caterpillar crying and the tadpole looking concerned as to the rationale why. The layout of this book is also unique compared to other books as it has a “flipchart”/”calendar layout”. The top pages show the caterpillar on the branches of trees whilst the bottom page displays the tadpole living in the water. This illustrated clearly the layout of the scenarios.

The text contains repetition and this is essential for teaching pupils to read and develop vocabulary. The text contains clear and concise sentences that portray what emotions the characters are experiencing in each scenario. The text also contains suitable adjectives, of which we are trying to teach a pupil to expand on in her writing and to develop her vocabulary.

We also used an activity to coincide with the reading of this book. The class had templates of the tadpole’s head, arms and legs and at each stage of the book the pupils added the different parts of the body using glue as the story progressed. This portrayed to the pupils in a visual way the life cycle of a tadpole before it evolves into a frog.

Although this book was read to year five pupils, this book was created for pupils of lower key stages. Therefore, I was surprised to see such an ending as the majority of children’s stories have a "happy ending", of which this one did not. One may conclude this should be a rationale of why I disliked the book however; this would be incorrect as this is not how life is for everyone. This book examines how animals change and introduces to children that life may always not have a happy ending and two people with feelings for each other may not always last. Ultimately this book introduces death and separation anxiety, something which other children’s books of this type rarely explore and dare to cover.

[Big Book Little Book · Rating 5 out of 5]

Caroline: www.bigbooklittlebook.blogspot.com

A rainbow and a pearl fell in love. The rainbow requested her beloved pearl, to promise to never change. Unfortunately Pearl was destined to break his promise, as he was a tadpole and his love Rainbow, a caterpillar.


Obviously not a fan of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 (“...Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds...” ) Rainbow becomes increasingly distressed and peeved at the physical changes she observes in her beau each time they meet. Pearl begs forgiveness wanting only to be with his love.

Eventually her disappointment is such that Rainbow has to take herself away to nurse her disappointment, and cries herself to sleep.

Awaking from her sleep a changed caterpillar (literally, as she is now a butterfly), she decides to forgive Pearl and give their love another chance. Fluttering down to the water’s edge she spots a lone frog.... and the fickle insect gets her comeuppance!

While you could say that this book is educational about transformation in nature and the food chain - I simply love this book for its black humour and I can’t help but smile every time I read it!

My four year old, like many of her peers, went through a phase where she was fascinated with the idea of death. We had to watch a particular scene in The Lion King over and over again, answer questions about her grandmothers passing and had many meal time conversations about how farmyard favourites make it on to her dinner plate. Tadpoles Promise helped to satisfy some of this morbid curiosity.

If your child has a taste for the macabre that The Old Woman Who Swallowed A Fly just can’t satisfy then this is the book for you.

[Hannah Liddle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has great science links as it describes the life cycles of a frog and a butterfly.

I love that this book has a surprise ending - it shows children that stories do not always have to end 'happily ever after'! The author uses repetition of some phrases for emphasis which works so well.

[Nazari · Rating 3 out of 5]

La negación de Eros.
Ninguno se quería tal cuál.
¿El que tiene más alas es el comido?.

Un libro que deja en manifiesto porque ¿"no se deben algunas especies juntar"?... algo que no observamos en nuestra condición humana, pero que el cuento deja más para pensar...y va más allá que eso...

[Jennifer (JenIsNotaBookSnob) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strange and weird with an ending that would make most children fairly upset. My daughter was not overly fond of the ending in this book at all.
Basically, tadpole and caterpillar love each other, but, caterpillar gets upset as tadpole changes as he promised not to change. Caterpillar ends up changing into a butterfly and goes back to the pond to find tadpole who is a frog now and eats her immediately. So, yeah, a strange one.

I liked it, but, it probably has a bit of a limited audience because of the ending.

[Fi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twinnies love this book, slightly sadistic sides definitely showing! Took great delight in telling me what happens to the tadpole and caterpillar.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

The cycle of life is dark sometimes and this book is an evil and brilliant example of that fact.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unfortunately, some promises can't be kept. However, this one is kinda hilarious. Or maybe not... If you read this one, you're in for a "gotcha" ending.

[Kiera (Student Mode)]

What an ending this book has! I have to say Tadpole’s Promise might be one of my favourite picture books that i have encountered so far, even if it made me gasp at the end.

This book was a great link to our current topic of ‘Minibeasts’ as it linked really well to our lesson on life cycles and reinforced the children’s learning. We currently have tadpoles in our classroom, so this book was a lovely connection to them too. I also think this book could be used again in my unit on funny stories next term, as it has some great features like repetition which is a technique we will be focusing on.

[سیده فاطمه مطهری · Rating 1 out of 5]

اگه برای بچه میخواین بخونید، حتما حتما حتما با تفسیر و توضیح خودتون همراه باشه

[Ciaran Mcnamee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of the friendship between a tadpole and a caterpillar. The caterpillar tells the tadpole that she loves him the way he is. He promises her that he will never change. However, throughout the book the tadpole is unable to keep his promise as he matures into a frog. The book has a tragi-comic ending in which the frog eats his friend, while waiting for her to return, because he fails to recognise that she has matured into a butterfly!

I enjoyed this book and think it would be great to read to children in Reception or Year 1. The innocent nature of the characters’ friendship reminded me of childhood friendships and is likely to appeal to young children. I think the story could be used to introduce a science lesson by showing children that some creatures change radically as they mature. The ending also has the potential to introduce children to the concept of the food chain.

The book could also be used simply as a story to read and discuss with a class, as it is an enjoyable tale with attractive illustrations. While the path of the story is predictable to adults it will be less obvious to children. The ending is also likely to provoke group discussion.

[Tess Upchurch · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a caterpillar and a tadpole that fall in love and promise each other that they will never change. As can be expected the tadpole quickly breaks its promise as it begins to grow. The caterpillar becomes so upset that she cries herself to sleep. When she wakes up she flies down to ask a frog if he has seen her true love, but before she can even get the words out the frog eats her. Neither the frog or the butterfly recognized the other in their newly evolved state.

I’m still not quite sure how I feel about this book. While I found the ending to be rather upsetting and dark I did find it to be rather clever. I really liked that the book used the ideas of evolution to create a predictable yet intriguing book. It was almost like a car crash on the side of the highway; I knew it was going to end poorly but I found myself glued to the book waiting to find out how.

I would likely not use this book in younger grades where the students would not find this ending humorous. I would, however consider using it in middle school as a way to practice making predictions or to introduce the idea that certain animals change appearance during their life cycle.

[Megan Wittenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

We all change as we continue to grow and there’s nothing we can do about it. Follow along this picture book as a tadpole and caterpillar fall in love with each others original form but soon learn that this isn’t something that can last forever. After some development happens for both the tadpole and the caterpillar, will their love be able to last? Read this out of the ordinary picture book to see how this relationship ends up, it’ll leave you in shock, I can promise you that! This book is definitely a one of a kind. My jaw dropped when towards the end of it. I would definitely keep this book in my classroom library as it is a book that is unlike the rest and is one that could be used within the classroom. This book could be used to make predictions on what will happen next within the story after using prior knowledge to figure some things out. Not only this, but it could be used as a book that students can practice doing some read alouds with as the words aren’t very hard to read through.

[Amie Pople · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that on first look appears to be another story on life cycles and how we change as we grow. However, not exactly so, as this story had a sad ending (or to me what was a gasp in shock moment) where two creatures who had become intwined in what was perceived to be a love story and happy ending. However it became a tragedy, of love lost by ones own hand. The poor tadpole who had tried to promise not to change, could not help his transformation over time. His beautiful caterpillar after falling asleep to transform herself had lost sight of this transformation, leaving neither to recognise one another before tadpole (now frog), ate her whole. Poor frog is left waiting wondering where his caterpillar is, never to know that he ate her.

I feel some children might be rather shocked from this ending as was I, yet others less so and find it a somewhat exciting twist. Where and when I would introduce this book to my class is still to be decided.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This tale is not supposed to be happy. It's cautionary and surprisingly blunt. I really like the warning aspect of it. One of the things I like most about my 30 plus years of marriage is that we have naturally changed over the years in so many ways. It keeps long love interesting. I'd like to think our story would be the opposite of this book, a happy version where tadpole and caterpillar choose to love each other at each stage and begin to anticipate they'll both keep changing. I'd like to read that version. I laughed out loud in horrid surprise at the shocking ending of this one because I'm so used to happy endings in children's books. This is the favorite of the books I read to Alena today. I checked out several books by Jeanne Willis. She may be a new favorite.

[Eve O. Spellman · Rating 5 out of 5]

No matter what age you are, this book is hilarious! The ending surprised me.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

HOOOOO'BOY WAS THAT A RIDE. I have NEVER been taken on such a ride before.

I think the moral of the story is that it's okay to change, but don't become an unrecognizable bitch.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lições interessantes sobre mudanças e o aceitamento daqueles que veem você evoluir. Entretanto, o final é um pouco inesperado, o que torna tudo ainda melhor.

[Alastair French · Rating 5 out of 5]

:D

[tunmise ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a dark book! I… I will read it again to the kids 😂

[Emily Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not your usual love story, Tadpole’s promise is a tale about a tadpole and a caterpillar that fall in love. When they are both young and with immature bodies, they promise one another they will never change. The next time they meet, the tadpole has grown front legs, which upsets the caterpillar as the tadpole has changed. Then the tadpole grows arms and finally loses its tail. This upsets the caterpillar who cannot believe that the tadpole has broken his promise and declares she cannot love him anymore. The caterpillar crawls away up the branch and begins to cry. As the caterpillar is crying she turns into a cocoon and transforms into a beautiful butterfly. As she emerges from the cocoon, the caterpillar decides she can forgive the tadpole and goes to find him. As she arrives at ‘where the willow meets the water’ she spots a frog sat on a lily pad. The butterfly approaches the frog and starts to ask if he knows where her ‘shiny black…’ but before she can finish ‘GULP’ the frog eats the butterfly. There, the frog still sits, waiting for his rainbow caterpillar to come back to him.

What I like most about this story is that it subverts literary expectations. When reading a love story, especially aimed at children one would expect the animals to fall in love and live happily ever after. This however, is not the case in the Tadpole’s promise. Not only this, but the ending isn’t made explicit. It relies on the children to use their understanding of what they have read to work out how it ends and why the frog is still waiting for his caterpillar. Even though the story is simply written, it still includes some beautiful descriptions and the illustrations really help to bring the story alive.

Even though a simple story, because of its nature it could be used across all key stages within a primary school. The book could be used as a story in class to support the curriculum in many ways. When learning about life cycles, it can be used to illustrate the stages of a caterpillar and frogs development. It could also be used as an introductory exercise to get children to think about the changes we go through as human beings and our life cycle. Not only this, but it can be useful to teach children about relationships and the nature of promise making. It has a very clear message that one should not make promises that cannot be kept as they can be very hurtful to others and ourselves.

Due to its versatility within a school and its surprising nature, I would award this book 5 stars and recommend it to anyone who is a teacher. Not only will the children enjoy it, but the staff to.

[Bianca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book and although its not the best book for cross-curricular links I think it is an excellent resource for Science sessions. It could be used after a session of pond dippping at the farm, as it covers the topic of life cycle.

It is a story of a tadpole who falls in love with a caterpillar, they make a prommise to eachother that they will never change. Not long after making that promise, the tadpole begins to alter in appearance as he turns into a frog. The caterpillar becomes very distressed and reminds her love of his promise. However, every time they meet, the frog becomes bigger and more different in his appearance as he makes that transformation from tadpole to frog. Caterpillar becomes infuriated by this, and she goes off and weeps.

The next morning, when she makes up, she discovers wings-as she has turned into a butterfly over night. She THEN realises that she could accept her lovers changes and goes to tell him. The frog, not recognising the butterfly as the caterpillar eats her and the frog continues to wait on the leaf for his lover. She never turns up.....

This book could be considered a tragic love story. Additionally, its a light hearted way to express science and the life cycle processes. This is an excellent book to introduce the subject of life cycles and I would recommend this book for yr1/2

Overall, I like this book, it explores the subject of science and life cycles and does it in a very effective way.

[Kate Sumner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was shocked, a little sad, but then came to laugh and enjoy the book. Great for many readers with a sadistic side! It's a troubled romance story that has the reality of life cycle involved.

A rainbow and a pearl fell in love. The rainbow requested her beloved pearl, to promise to never change. Unfortunately Pearl was destined to break his promise, as he was a tadpole and his love Rainbow, a caterpillar.
Rainbows really dislikes and gets upset at the physical changes of her pearl. But pearl can't help it, he's growing! He begs for forgiveness and they make a promise that it'll never happen again... again... and again... Eventually Rainbow is so upset, she leaves and cries herself to sleep as pearl, the now frog, is saddened. As she is asleep, she is sleeping in her cocoon! When she wakes up, she has now changed and is now a butterfly. Waking up, she decides to give Pearl another chance and flies over to talk to him. Then the unthinkable happens.... Pearl eats Rainbow!!
Pearl didn't know Rainbow had or even could change! Frogs naturally eat bugs, so he just snatched her up like a snack. He is then left alone... wondering where Rainbow is...

This humorous book is educational and I would use it in my classroom to talk about the transformations in nature and the food chain!