Copyright © 2004 by Adarna House, Inc., Heidi Emily Eusebio-Abad, and Beth Parrocha-Doctolero
Story by Heidi Emily Eusebio-Abad
Illustrations by Beth Parrocha-Doctolero
SYNOPSIS
With its wiggly tail and rolly-polly shape, the polliwog is truly a star... until an odd-colored creature with large, bulging eyes appears and steals all the attention away. In this charming tale set in a swamp, find out how the polliwog learns to deal with change.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Heidi is a professor at the Department of English and Comparative Literature at the University of the Philippines. Her first book for children entitled, Abot Mo Ba ang Tainga Mo? won the Gintong Aklat Award for Children's Literature in 2002. She is a member of the Kuwentistia ng mga Tsikiting (Kuting), an organization of writers for children. Her latest book, Polliwog's Wiggle, is dedicated to her frog-prince, Sergio, and their brood of polliwogs, Laura, Laraine, Steffie, and Sam.
REVIEW
Dealing with change can often be difficult and tedious. We are more or less confronted with situations that require us to adapt to different environments and circumstances. Even so, the ability to cope with an ever changing world is both essential and necessary for one's survival. It is this trait that helps us appreciate and understand the impermanence of life--the fact that we will not always be fixed to what we may be now.
Accepting change in one's life is exactly the theme behind this children's story about a polliwog's life and growth to a frog. The story begins with a polliwog suddenly emerging to the world within a swamp inhabited by minnows. Because the polliwog was completely different from the minnows who lived in the swamp, they wanted to befriend and play with him. The polliwog and the minnows came to love the new friendship they formed.
However, this would change when a mysterious rock-like creature appeared in the swamp. Bewildered by its peculiar looks, the minnows focused their attention more on this creature that showed up before them. The polliwog would slowly feel jealous for having lost their attention on it, oftentimes choosing not to even mingle with them. This event would eventually make the polliwog want to grow in size to match with the gigantic body of the rock-like creature. Unbeknownst to the polliwog, however, he would already start to see changes in his body.
The polliwog's body had started to look like the rock-like creature. Its body suddenly gained a brownish green color--a lot like the color of a mossy rock. It also started to lose its tail in return for front and hind legs. As more days passed, the polliwog could no longer breathe for too long underwater, forcing it to come out of the water and begin living on land. The polliwog eventually started to look like the rock-like creature it once envied, which turned out to be a frog like him.
It didn't like it's new body, and it didn't feel good about it. Not only could the polliwog turned frog stand being the water for long, but it also had to change its diet to eating insects in the swamp. Eventually, as the frog came to the realization of its existence, it came to accept the fact that it changed to the creature that one day appeared in the swamp. Though it was afraid at first, the frog decided to talk again to the minnows who once forgot about it and chose to reconcile with them. As the minnows accepted the frog, remembering that it was the polliwog who once played with them, they began living their life again the way it used to be.
Just as the polliwog had to deal with the changes that came to his life, we also are going through a change in our current way of life. There are many things we are currently uncertain about, such as when the effects of the current pandemic would definitely end, and what challenges the world would face in the future. We may come up with as many predictions as possible, but we can never know for sure what we would face in the future to come. This is why we, just like the polliwog has done, have to learn to cope with and embrace the changes that come in our life. Let us not feel down when we are going through tough times like this. May we learn to accept the impermanence of life as a natural consequence we are bound to experience.
FINAL WORD
I'd like to thank you, the reader, for supporting the book reviews I have prepared for this occasion. It has been a pleasure not only entertaining you but also inspiring you to read and appreciate both children's books and the beauty of the mother tongue. I hope you have learned as much as I do in appreciating our cultures for the past 5 book reviews.
Until then, I hope to see you in the next book review!
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