I Saw a Slimeball Wiggle
Ray Butrum
Hamer House Publishing (2024)
ISBN: 979-8883771803
Reviewed by Jennifer Donovan for Reader Views (01/2025)
In “I Saw a Slimeball Wiggle” by Ray Butrum, Hazel and her family visit her grandfather’s farm over summer break. Hazel’s favorite part of the farm is the pond. From the water to the wildlife to the flora, Hazel loves to spend time enjoying all the pond has to offer. One night, heavy rain causes the pond to expand, so Hazel arranges some rocks around the new section to make a pond of her own.
One day, Hazel notices something slimy wiggling in the water! Affectionately called her “slimeball,” Hazel watches a tadpole’s life cycle as it transforms from a creature with gills and a tail, living in the water, into a frog with webbed feet, living on land. Hinting at the beloved children’s story, “The Princess and the Frog,” Hazel marvels over the metamorphosis of her frog, which occurred without the catalyst of a kiss.
With beautiful illustrations by Ada Abigael Aco, “I Saw a Slimeball Wiggle” presents amphibian biology to young readers in an engaging format. With diagrams illustrating how metamorphosis transforms eggs into tadpoles and then into frogs, the visual representation demonstrates to young readers how some animals mature in unique ways, much different from humans or even farm animals.
Part of the Science With Hazel series, “I Saw a Slimeball Wiggle” encourages scientific exploration and inquisitiveness. Establishing her own miniature pond, Hazel identifies the features that make it a complete habitat, leading to new life growing right before her eyes. This educational story presents the beauty of wildlife and nature in a manner that children can appreciate and understand in vibrant rhyming verse.
I greatly enjoyed the consistent rhyming, and the use of common meter makes the book easy to read aloud! The adorable animals shown in the book add to the pleasure of reading it. I remember my own childhood spent studying the “polliwogs” that grew in the pond near my home, and enjoying this book with my young children inspires me to take them out in nature to witness this miracle for themselves and form their own cherished memories.
Perfect for preschool and elementary ages, I highly recommend Ray Butrum’s “I Saw a Slimeball Wiggle” for parents, teachers, and libraries to share with the inquisitive children in their lives. Fostering a love for science and animals at a young age will lead to a lifelong appreciation of the beauty of nature.