At some point, every kid struggles to learn a skill. This charming picture book frames the experience of being the slowest or youngest or last to catch on through a story of a tadpole taking swimming lessons with his older frog siblings. Tadpole Hop has a lot of disadvantages: his arm floaties reach down to his fingers, his swim ring can’t keep him from sinking, he gets lost swimming underwater. He is the worst or last at every step. But with the help of the Speedowearing toad lifeguard who advises, “Keep on kicking!” Hop eventually succeeds, diving off a high reed. The story comically blends naturalistic and fantastical details (like the frogs staging a costume parade), while the digital illustrations pull readers into a strange but familiar world, giving an amphibious view of the pond and filling the pages with animals and objects that glow like old enamel jewelry. Hop keeps trying and has fun along the way in this nice, comic lesson in perseverance.

– Booklist