Summer of the Toad

When a renegade band of four-fingered raccoons steals his laboratory assistant, Toadley Smith immediately sets out to get him back. Armed with explosives of his own design and assisted by Maria, the amphibian he desperately wants to date, Toadley charges into the wild woodland beyond Toad Hollow. Together they must outwit a den of scheming snakes, evade four self-conscious bats and escape the monster they thought was fiction - a human child! Toadley has two days before his ward becomes an unwilling actor and then a menu item. But as Toadley always says, never underestimate a toad... When he's not writing, author DM Schwartz practices medicine, crashes his mountain bike and draws pictures for his four children. When it comes to toads, they maintain a strict catch-and-release policy. Summer of the Toad is his first novel for younger readers.