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By the Grace of Todd

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By the Grace of Todd

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Overview

Perfect for fans of Andrew Clements, Dan Gutman, and The Borrowers, By the Grace of Todd is the laugh-out-loud answer to what happens if you leave dirty laundry on the floor . . . and don’t follow your mother’s instructions to clean your room.

Twelve-year-old Todd has created life through sheer grossness.
How did he become an accidental god?

Ingredient A: A worn athletic sock
Ingredient B: Dirt from the Great and Powerful Todd himself

Instructions: Leave under bed for months. Do not clean room.

Yields: 50 ant-sized Toddlians

BUT WATCH OUT! When school bully Max Loving puts the future of the tiny Toddlians in jeopardy, Todd will have to do everything in his power to save the race his very negligence created.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101610961
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	02/27/2014
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
Lexile:	740L (what's this?)
File size:	8 MB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Louise Galveston is a writer, playwright, and director of children’s theater. She lives with her husband in the Midwest and, like Todd, she presides over a small civilization of her own: a parrot, cockatiel, horse, African dwarf frog, and eleven tiny people who happen to be her children! Come visit her (and the Toddlians!) at www.bythegraceoftodd.com.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“This story is all about the ride, in all of its gross and grimy glory. Galveston . . . delights in the icky habits of the Toddlians (“dead skin cell and toe jam sandwiches” are a delicacy), yet her portrayal of the brutalities of middle school feels as real as the things Todd learns about friends, popularity, and being true to oneself.”
–Publishers Weekly

“Fans of both the smart and the gross . . . will take to this one.”
–Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

“Hilarious premise and . . . excellent cast of supporting characters.”
–Booklist

“A dirty sock has never been such fun! A zany and hilarious adventure of bravery and friendship.” —Donna Gephart, author of How to Survive Middle School

“All hail Todd! Who can resist a story of a kid so slovenly that intelligent life forms on his filthy sock?” —Mark Peter Hughes, author of Lemonade Mouth

“By the Grace of Todd is deliciously gross. It made the ten year old locked up inside of my head howl with laughter. Wonderfully disgusting, yet thought provoking.” —Thomas E. Sniegoski - New York Times bestselling author of THE FALLEN series, and the BONE: QUEST FOR THE SPARK Trilogy

From the B&N Reads Blog

Page 1 of

Editorial Reviews

12/02/2013
While attempting to clean up the staggering mess that is his room, sixth-grader Todd Butroche discovers a colony of Borrower-like mini-humans living on his sock. (“You’ve spawned life through sheer grossness!” cheers his scientifically minded friend Lucy.) Meanwhile, school bully Max Loving has taken Todd under his wing; when Max learns of the “Toddlians” (as Lucy dubs them), he decides to train like circus fleas for a science project. Todd wants to save the Toddlians, and they have faith that “the Great Todd” will rescue them, as seen in the occasional chapters they narrate. Will Todd give up being cool to stand up to Max? The answer isn’t a surprise, but readers won’t care—this story is all about the ride, in all of its gross and grimy glory. Galveston (a pseudonym) delights in the icky habits of the Toddlians (“dead skin cell and toe jam sandwiches” are a delicacy), yet her portrayal of the brutalities of middle school feels as real as the things Todd learns about friends, popularity, and being true to oneself. Ages 8–12. Agent: Chris Snowdon, Working Partners. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

A dirty sock has never been such fun! A zany and hilarious adventure of bravery and friendship.” —Donna Gephart, author of How to Survive Middle School

“All hail Todd! Who can resist a story of a kid so slovenly that intelligent life forms on his filthy sock?” —Mark Peter Hughes, author of Lemonade Mouth

“By the Grace of Todd is deliciously gross. It made the ten year old locked up inside of my head howl with laughter. Wonderfully disgusting, yet thought provoking.” —THOMAS E. SNIEGOSKI - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE FALLEN series, and the BONE: QUEST FOR THE SPARK Trilogy.

“…this story is all about the ride, in all of its gross and grimy glory. Galveston . . . delights in the icky habits of the Toddlians (“dead skin cell and toe jam sandwiches” are a delicacy), yet her portrayal of the brutalities of middle school feels as real as the things Todd learns about friends, popularity, and being true to oneself.” –Publishers Weekly

"Fans of both the smart and the gross . . . will take to this one." —Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

From the Publisher

06/01/2014
Gr 4–7—The premise of this middle school fantasy is a great hook for the right kind of reader: Twelve-year-old Todd is so messy that his "gagadocious" dirty laundry pile spawns sentient life: he discovers an entire civilization of about 50 ant-sized people living on his sweat sock. The "Toddlians" idolize the boy and count on him for protection, but Todd lets them down by bringing a popular but malicious kid in on the secret. Plenty of action follows as the mean-spirited Max abuses the amazing creatures and Todd, with help from a neighbor girl, finally figures out how to save them. The Toddlians are an amusing bunch, especially in the handful of chapters they narrate. They learn at an amazingly fast rate, absorbing knowledge from movies and television, resulting in some funny moments. Todd, on the other hand, is a hard kid to like for much of the book. He goes along with Max's schemes without much thought or regret and for the most part doesn't show all that much amazement or curiosity about the Toddlians's existence. Switches in perspective and frequent scenes of action keep the story moving, but twists involving a car break-in and a money-making scheme at a local fair feel contrived. The idea of people created spontaneously from grossness results in some fun but not enough to make up for the unappealing protagonist and a less than stellar plotline.—Steven Engelfried, Wilsonville Public Library, OR

School Library Journal

2013-11-13
Can a kid who killed his hermit crab through neglect save a brand new civilization? Sixth-grader Todd Galveston Butroche just wants to survive the new year at Wakefield Middle School. He and his best friend, Duddy, have always been bullied; this year's got to be different. Todd and his home-schooled neighbor, Lucy, discover an entire civilization of tiny humanoids living on a sweaty gym sock under Todd's bed in his disgustingly unclean room. The Toddlians see Todd as a god; Todd sees them as his ticket to coolness after he's paired with uber-bully Max for the science fair. Max wants to train the Toddlians to do dangerous tricks. Will Todd give up his friends and destroy a civilization just to be cool? No need to guess why Galveston decided to use a pseudonym for this unfortunate waste of an entertainingly gross premise. The frame story, related by Toddlian Lewis, doesn't work particularly well with Todd's first-person narration. The tiny Toddlians are microscopic when Todd first discovers them, but fairly quickly he's able to see them with his naked eye, and they can juggle marbles and ride chameleons. Dated and unfunny jokes about such figures as Nixon and John Wayne will be totally lost on the target audience, and there's a serious problem with relative time in the narrative. This entry in the little-people subgenre should be avoided like a moldy tube sock. The "to be continued" on the final page reads like a threat. (Fantasy. 8-11)

Kirkus Reviews