This was a cute book about finding your inner voice and not letting yourself get on your own nerves.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. This is a strange book about an angry toad on her head that gets lost so she creates her own out of a pickle.

Carol is a young girl who wears a toad on her head like a hat. The toad is rather rude, and is constantly telling her what to do, and her voice is too quiet to say anything about it. The toad tells her what to eat, where to go, what to paint, and Carol just does what it says, because it's easier that way. One day, a pigeon steals her toad hat, and she doesn't know what to do- there's no one to tell her. She tries different hats but none feel right, she feels lost. Then she has an idea- she makes a hat out of a pickle and a hard-boiled egg, cut in half- a pickle toad! Though the pickle toad never speaks, Carol "hears" it, telling her what to do. She starts to eat new foods, go to new places, paint what she wants to paint. But that pigeon comes back, and steals her pickle toad too! Now what will she do? She will find her own voice, that's what. She'll realize that she doesn't need anyone to tell her what to do, she can figure it out for herself. As we read the story and watch her come to this realization, we're treated to some really gorgeous mixed-media artwork, and lots of silliness and humor. Definitely a fun read!

#NetGalley

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read this advanced copy. This was a sweet picture book with an important message about finding your own voice (assisted by a pigeon!) and being true to yourself. The art is full of details kids will enjoy picking out and the humor makes this an ideal read-aloud choice.

4.5* rounded up! Thank you to Netgalley for letting me read an advanced E-copy of this lovely book!

I did pick this book up because of the toad on the cover. Frogs and fancy hats are a combination that immediately catches my eye in books and I'm glad I read this because it boosted my day, made me laugh throughout the book and smile at the ending.
I enjoy seeing what materials are used to make the illustrations in any book, and I loved the use of gouache and watercolor in this, just a beautiful book that I hope to read again when it's published!

Special thanks to NetGalley for providing a digital copy in exchange for an honest review

I wasn't expecting this to be a find your own voice story, but that's exactly what it was, and it was pretty magical to read

I absolutely loved this story. Carol and the Pickle-Toad gave a comical element to a serious topic of finding one's inner voice. The illustrations were fantastic, whimisical and brought out the characters emotions very well.

Absolutely loved Carol and the Pickle-Toad by Esmé Shapiro! What a delightful book! The illustrations were perfect to helping one find their inner voice. Very enjoyable read. I just reviewed Carol and the Pickle-Toad by Esmé Shapiro. #NetGalley

I received an eARC of this book in return for an honest review; thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity.

This book is completely charming and well written. I love the typography used; this was so fun to read with my toddler. we absolutely did different voices during the appropriate parts of the story. It was just plain fun to read.

The gorgeous illustrations and the whimsical story make this an awesome example to help young children see someone learning to overcome challenges and develop their own voices.

Carol and the Pickle-Toad is an odd little book about a girl who wears a toad on her head. The toad seems to be a bit of a bully but Carol still likes it. When her toad hat is stolen she then puts a pickle on her head which she calls a pickle toad. I like the silliness of this story but I do not really understand the ending. She tries searching for her missing hats but instead finds her own voice and all thoughts of hats are gone. It makes sense in writing, but feels oddly abrupt in the telling. I think having a proper resolution would really tie this book together, the premise is good, but it deviates from the initial point.

I love this book! It is like the little kids version of Glennon Doyle's Untamed, teaching kids everywhere to listen to their inner voice, not to be afraid to be who they are, not who someone else want you to be. Yes, it is quirky, and I'm not really sure why the hat is a pickle toad , but for me, that adds to the charm. The illustrations are beautiful and I smiled as Carol went on her journey to find herself. I think it would appeal to young children's oddball sense of humor and is a great conversation starter.

There are many many things in this book I don’t really understand. Such as the old saying. Never heard of it. But I liked this story anyway. It seems like it’s about hats, but it’s really about being who you are and not to let a “hat” squash your personality. On a side note, this is a great choice if your library does an edible book festival.

The artwork is cute but the story unfortunately fell short for me. Carol's original toad hat was a bully and when it is snatched by a pigeon she finds that she can't do anything on her own and replaces it with a substitute toad hat and imagines that it speaks to her as the original toad did. When that hat is snatched too, she somehow finds her voice and makes friends. Her sudden growth is not explained and doesn't make any sense.

Is the toad on your head holding you back from being yourself and making connections? Pick up this book to take the most imaginative journey to finding your inner voice that I have ever seen. What a delight!

What a wonderful and entertaining concept! This book is a perfectly written kids book: a great lesson about finding your voice, but with funny elements of toad and pickle hats to keep the kids' attention. This is exactly the type of book my preschool and elementary kids like most. Plus, the pictures are absolutely gorgeous!

'Carol and the Pickle-Toad' is a charming and beautifully-illustrated children's book about learning to speak for yourself and ultimately gaining confidence. I like that Esme Shapiro demonstrated the transitionary stage for Carol between 'having someone talking over her' and 'being more at-ease with speaking for herself' with the pickle-toad. I think it's rather important to have children see that changes do not happen immediately and overnight, and that Carol did miss the certainty of having the frog around to tell her what to do, and having a stand-in fake frog allowed her to process the loss and be able to project her own wants onto it until she no longer had the pickle-toad.

All in all, a very beautiful little book! It was very enjoyable to read.

I wish I could say that my family enjoyed this book but we really weren't able to. Normally, I don't focus on formatting because I know it isn't a final copy of the book. The formatting for this, however, was so bad that we could barely read the story. Words were broken up and it was just a mess.

This is a strange book about a little girl who wears a toad hat until it’s stolen away by a pigeon. Losing her road hat helps her to try on other hats to try to find the right one for her which leads her to discovering her very own voice. Kids will like the silly aspect of this especially in the beginning when she is wearing the toad as a hat. Cute illustrations!

Really adorable story, and the illustrations are next-level good. I'm not quite as obsessed as I was with Alma and the Beast, but Shapiro's artwork just keeps getting better and better.

A beautiful read about listening to our inner voice and discovering what we can do, I was amazed about how a subject so complex could be brought in such a simple way.
The illustrations are amazing, vivid and they pop.
I will gladly recommend it at the store.