Commander Toad in Space is another of the set we borrowed for our trip to South Pasadena.

In this story the crew go to a watery planet to explore. In true amphibian fashion the crew deploys inflatable lily pads to land on.

What the crew doesn't know is that danger lurks under the surface. Fearing that they will either be stranded or killed, Commander Toad must think of a way to rescue himself and his crew. What he does is rather clever.

While Commander Toad in Space doesn't have as many puns and jokes as the other book in the series but the book makes up for it in terms of good science fiction. ( )

Commander Toad is captain of the ship, Star Warts. His mission is to go where no space ship has gone before. He travels with a crew, each with a special job to do. They encounter a new world and get ready to go exploring. Jake Skyjumper checks out the planet on the computer, only to find it is made of water. Commander Toad gets a rubber lily pad to bring along. They land their skimmer on the inflated lily pad and look and listen, encountering a Deep Wader sea creature, that angrily claims the planet for himself. He disappears back underwater, then resurfaces. Lieutenant Lily shoots him with her laser gun, but it just makes him laugh. The battle has lost them their skimmer, which has sunk. Deep Wader comes back again, so they begin to fill up their raft with hot air and distract Deep Wader by asking him a riddle and engaging him to sing in a play. The lily pad is now floating like a hot air balloon, and they float away back up to the mother ship. They decide to find other planets where they won't have to be so brave.

There are no awards for this book. This book is good for 2nd and 3rd graders since the book is long for graders younger then those two and the text of the book is appropriate for 2nd and 3rd graders. This book is about a Toad Commander of a space ship and his crew who are on a mission to go to a place where no one has gone before. The find a planet and this planet is made up water so they decided to bring out floats to so they can explore the planet. Once they all get on the float they feel a shake in the water and little before they know it a giant monster is about to eat them. They only get away because on of the crew members starts to talk to him to distract him and give his other crew members time to run away. All the members are able to reenter their space ship and head back to earth where there are no monsters looking to eat them. This book deals with team work and problem solving. This story would be one of the group's books in book club time. This is an easy enough read for 2nd and 3rd graders to read on their own and discuss events and characters amongst their groups.

For anyone who has ever been a part of a group with a leader who overestimates their ability can attest to the experiences of Commander Toad and his crew. Although this is a children's book, it is easy to appreciate the humor thrown into each page of the tale. Although it is debatable on how the Commander reacts in situations, he does have the qualities of a good leader and "people" are drawn to him.

Commander Toad is a delight. He's 'bold and bright', though not quite as bright as he thinks. His crew (an amalgam of loose takes on Star Wars and Star Trek characters), lol, puts up with his prideful ways, because he is, after all, a good leader. Together with his mixed-gender crew he gets into and out of a wonderful series of scrapes. This book is the first in the series. Really fun read!