1. Toby the Peron’s Tree Frog By Helen Allen

2. Just how did I go from Tobes the Tadpole to Toby the frog? Tobes Toby

3. In the beginning Father frog calls at the side of the pond; “cra, cra, ah, ah, ah, ahhk” (very fast, like a machine gun). He is searching for a Mother frog.

4. Soon Mother frog and Father frog get together. Mother frog lays a lot of eggs in the water, including one that becomes me. This is me in the egg

5. Father frog makes a foam so that the eggs float on the water.

6. Can you see us growing in the eggs?

7. In a few days I have a tail.

8. We wriggle around in the egg sack. Yippee, this is the way we learn to swim, tumbling, tumbling, over and over.

9. Gradually, I grow into a tiny tadpole. I have eyes, a mouth and a tail. Then I hatch out of my egg and I can swim in the big pool. I have some yummy yolk left to eat. I am still rather fragile.

10. In another seven days I am able to swim with friends and we eat algae. I am covered with skin, not like fish that have scales. My teeth are coming through; even though they are very tiny they can grate food and make it easy to digest.

11. It is great now I have made new friends and we swim around together in a school, just like girls and boys go to school. We do have a lot of fun in the pool swimming and learning new things.

12. But just how did I get to be a frog from such a little tadpole?

13. In six weeks with lots to eat, I have grown little hind legs. My body is getting longer and my head is easy to see now. Food is more interesting, a mixture of insects and plants.

14. Then my arms start to grow inside. First they are just a bulge then eventually they pop out, with an elbow first.

15. Some more weeks go by and I need to learn how to swim with legs as my tail starts to disappear.

16. By twelve weeks I have changed even more. My tail is a stub and I think I am starting to look like a teeny version of Mum and Dad. I am no longer a tadpole, now I am a froglet.

17. It is time to move from the water and explore ErinEarth. Little frogs like to hide in the grass around a pond; it is hard to see them sometimes. But when the weather is nice and the air moist, they sing a great chorus of song “cra, ah, ah, cra, ahhk”.

18. Now after all the changes I am a frog, and such a fine looking character.

19. In the next few weeks I must find a girl frog and raise some new frogs, and the cycle will start all over again. When you visit ErinEarth, see if you can find me.

20. The End

21. An ErinEarth Adventure © 2013 Helen Allen and the Trustees of the Presentation Sisters Text: Helen Allen Photographs: ErinEarth Volunteers Background: Sophie Cooper This book is for Kindergarten to Year 2. ErinEarth 1 Kildare Street Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650 Australia Ph: (02) 6925 7150 email: erinearthwagga@ozemail.com.au