Tully The Tadpole by A.M. Ruggirello was a super cute illustrated book that had an important message about staying true to yourself even while others around you are changing My nephew adored this book and begged me to read it again after we finished it the first time.

This is a sweet children's book with cute illustrations. It has an important message about growing up, changing and loving yourself. Definitely recommend adding this one to your Littles bookshelves.

Tully the Tadpole is an adorable book about a tadpole who experiences some "big feelings" as he watched his friends grow up and turn into toads and he didn't. Even though his friends came back to the pond as toads to visit, Tully had to learn acceptance in himself as he would stay a giant tadpole forever.

I loved how this beautifully written and illustrated story included footnotes at the bottom of the pages that stated facts about tadpoles and toads. The watercolor illustrations were beautifully done and the colors were so engaging. I also appreciated the questions for discussion at the end. This is a great book to use for helping children accept themselves and others.

Thank you to A.M. Ruggirello, BooksGoSocial and #NetGalley for the ARC and opportunity to read and review this enchanting and informative book!

What a cute book! Beautiful illustrations.
I read it to my daughter who loves frogs and she loved it.

Wasn’t really sure if the premise. My 2 year old thought the tadpole was cute though. Unrealistic storyline though

My thoughts are neutral on this book. I did not love it but did not dislike it either. It uses the they/their pronouns so Tully is a gender neutral tadpole that just wants to be accepted. I would have liked to see more character development but that falls short. I did enjoy the lovely watercolor illustrations!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advanced Reading copy.

Cute children’s book with beautiful watercolor pictures. I love the message this book sends children. Thank you NetGalley for an ARC. I plan on purchasing this book for my classroom.

I received a complimentary copy of this book via Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are my own opinions.

A very sweet story, I can't believe it is based on a true story. I really enjoyed how Tully was still playing with his friends and that he was still one of the gang. The fact that Tully was a they/them also made me smile. A wonderful inclusive book about self acceptance

Screechingly woke story of being your own you, featuring a tadpole that won't transform into a toad – much like a mahoosive one found in real life in Arizona, according to the footnotes. The artwork is very average, and while the text is laudably rhymed it too has to lose marks for mangling pronouns from the get-go. Principally this is just The Message, and not really here to engender fun, so two and a half stars.

This is the story of a tadpole and it was very hard to read. I thought it went through the life cycle, but the tadpole never became a frog. I did like the footnotes and it game me hopes that it was a more scientific book, but it was actually more of a accept yourself as you are kind of book. It is a sweet message and the art is adorable.

4 stars

Tully was a tadpole in a big pond. All the other tadpoles were changing into toads. In the midst of his friends changing and the changes he was experiencing, he learned to accept himself.

Kids will love the story of Tully and he came to accept himself. Not expecting for others to accept him.

A special thank you to BooksGoSocial and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

This was such a fun, cute little story! It could be used in the classroom to teach kids about the tadpole/frog life cycle, and I feel like little kids would really enjoy this. The theme is all about being yourself, which is a great message for children. Though not really a criticism, per say, but I would not be able to use this book in a school in certain states. Although not explicitly stated, the tadpole is a "they" - neither girl nor boy - which could be interpreted as trans or other representation in some states, which could get a teacher in trouble. However, I love the message and topic, especially since it relates to a real-life story of a tadpole who never became a frog. Such a cute and fun story! Loved it!

Tully the eternal tadpole is the star of this children's book. The book's narrative is perfect to read aloud to a young listener since it's written in rhyme. Kids will also appreciate the facts about a toad's lifecycle sprinkled throughout the book. The art is very pleasant watercolor. Ultimately, the story is about self acceptance even when one's path deviates from the norm. This is a warm, uplifting read that I would recommend. Thank you to NetGalley for the digital copy.

Very cute book about how being different is ok while also based on a true story and with some science lessons. My daughter loves it.

What a great book for little ones. My class of 4-5 year olds loved this story when we were talking about lifecycles.
Great illustrations too.

I read this book with my 3 year old son and he loved it! It has a lovely message about being yourself. There were also some questions at the back to help children to reflect on the message of the book.

The watercolour style illustrations were also beautiful.

There were little facts on some of the pages about tadpoles and toads, so this could easily be utilised in the classroom eg. lesson on the life cycle of a frog (outcome: ST2-4LW-S from the NSW syllabus)

This was a wonderful story! The art is absolutely gorgeous, everything from the style to the color palette chosen helps tell the story. I also really loved the typography (and I loved the footnotes with facts about tadpoles and toads.)

The story of Tully is told in a lovely, compelling rhyme. This would work very well both as a bedtime story and for talking points about staying true to yourself even though that can feel lonely at times.

I really liked that Tully broke the binary (tadpole to toad) while being referred to as they, actually. I didn't know that Tully's life path was something that could genuinely happen with tadpoles, which makes this story even richer in my opinion.

My thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Cute story concept but felt a little too repetitive. I would have like to get more character development and get a sense for who Tully is, not sure that we does change from being a tadpole.

This was a cute quick read to show that you don’t have to be like others to be happy and you can be awesome just by being you. It had great questions at the end to start thoughtful conversations with your kids. I didn’t love that it wasn’t a little more thorough on the actual cycle of tadpoles and while it’s cool that they stayed true to how they felt it doesn’t actually explain why they didn’t turn into a frog which caused me to deep dive to see if tadpoles can actually stay tadpoles.

There's a lot of things I loved about this book, it was a really fun read. I really liked how there was little footnotes with extra information about tadpoles & frogs - this really added a further level of learning to the story which I can imagine will fascinate kids, Additionally, I really liked that the story was inspired by a real-life tadpole that grew & grew, just like Tully - & how we learnt about said inspiration at the end of the book. Lastly, I liked the fact there's some discussion questions at the end. Overall, this is a really great book for kids - jam packed with fun, meaningful lessons & beautiful artwork.