Billy is disappointed when his father doesn't show up to help him catch a frog for the frog-jumping competition at school. The frog he and his mother catch wins the championship and Billy begins to accept his father's absence.

I give this book four and a half stars because it almost made me cry, and I think I would have had I not been so tired. This book is pretty upsetting. I got more and more frustrated along with the mom and grandma in the story the more I realized just how neglectful the dad was being of his son, especially since dad had *promised* he'd be there to support Tom's frog race. If you put all of the dad stuff aside, this is a heartwarming tale of a tight-knit family being incredibly supportive. It breaks my heart that this kid, who's pretty aware of and accustomed to his dad's frequent shortcomings, still has so much hope and optimism about dad showing up, but he never does. That is a reality for SO. MANY. KIDS. I can't imagine the level of disappointment and regret and frustration from the mom and mom's parents. Plus the difficulty of explaining it to such a young kid who's trying to be so strong and choke back tears has to be devastating. I want to type more, but I'm about to start tearing up again. ( )