09/7/10

City Dog, Country Frog

While canine bestsellers are common, a bestseller with a frog character is rare. The picture book, CITY DOG, COUNTRY FROG by Mo Willems, with watercolors by Jon J. Muth, is currently No. 9 on the New York Times children’s book bestseller list.

CITY DOG, COUNTRY FROG. Words by Mo Willems, pictures by Jon J. Muth

The story is a simple one—a friendship blossoms between a dog visiting the country and a resident frog through spring, summer, and fall. When winter comes the dog searches for the frog, but can’t find him. And when spring comes around again, he realizes frog is gone. But country dog finds a new friend.

The story is something of a departure for Mo Willems, whose other books include the now classic Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! In an interview, Willems says that he realized that he needed to find another illustrator for this story—Muth’s paintings complement the spare, poignant story perfectly. City Dog’s expressions of curiosity, playfulness, sadness, happiness, and confusion are sweet and tender—and very dog-like. Country Frog is pretty expressive, too!

Here’s a bit from the School Library Journal starred review by Joy Fleishhacker:

…[T] his tale depicts the natural cycle of friendship from an enthusiastic first encounter to contented companionship to the heartbreak of loss and eventual emotional renewal. Presented with a comfortingly consistent narrative structure, the events are set against the backdrop of the changing seasons, reassuring readers that winter will turn again to spring, sadness to joy…

As summer ends and we approach the first fall holiday, Rosh Hashanah, this is a wonderful book for kids about the cycle of seasons, change and renewal, friendship, and the importance of people or animals no longer with us.

More information:

Mo Willems’ website and information about Jon J. Muth.

12/13/09

Happy Holidays and THINK GREEN!

At this time of year, we’d like to stop and say thank you to all the visitors we’ve had, and to those who’ve joined our cause.

While you’re shopping for loved ones in the next week or so, we hope you’ll remember all the great organizations that need your help in this challenging economic climate.

HOLIDAY-2009-FrG-blog

12/9/09

A Frog and Toad Holiday

Continuing the theme of frog gifts, I received a wonderful gift from Susan—the children’s book The Frogs and Toads All Sang, by Arnold Lobel with color by Adrianne Lobel (HarperCollins, 2009):

This little book of rhymes has the same droll and slightly absurd humor of the classic Frog and Toad books. Originally handmade by Arnold Lobel as a gift for a friend, this was the first book he wrote about frogs and toads. His daughter Adrianne writes that these “private sketches, not meant for anyone’s eyes but those of friends, have a confidence and liveliness that anticipates his mature work in books such as the Frog and Toad series…”

Here’s an illustration from the book:

frogs-sang

Andrianne Lobel, a stage designer by profession, colored each sketch using watercolors and dyes. I love the drawings and the vibrant watercolors. I like the poems too:

Bright Green Frog

A bright green frog

With slippery skin

Played waltzes

On a violin.

But while he played

With skill and grace,

He wore a frown

Upon his face.

“I fiddle well.”

He sighed.

“And yet…

I’d rather play

The clarinet.”

If you don’t have copies of the original Frog and Toad books, this boxed set contains Frog and Toad All Year, Frog and Toad Are Friends, and Frog and Toad Together.

Of course, you can also get carried away and buy the plush characters, too. I’m not sure I can resist buying the plush versions of my old friends Frog and Toad:

12/3/09

Frog Gifts for the Holidays

The holidays are upon us, and we wanted to highlight some of our favorite froggy gifts.

Frog calendar

A portion of the proceeds of this calendar go to the World Wildlife Fund.

For baby

From Angel Dear, a curved frog pillow for baby. You have to feel this pillow to believe it-—it’s incredibly soft. I found this in a little boutique and I liked it so much I bought one even though I don’t know anyone who is having a baby anytime soon!

The pillow is machine washable with a removable cover.

14″ square, cashmere-soft, machine washable frog blankie

Adopt a Frog

Adopt a frog from the World Wildlife Fund. For $25, your gift recipient will receive an adoption certificate, species information card, and photo. For $50, they’ll receive a bucket of frogs, an adoption certificate, species information card, photo, and gift bag.

Children’s Books

Big Frog Can’t Fit In by Mo Willems (Hyperion, 2009)

Big Frog is big. Quite big. So big this book can’t hold her. But with a lot of help from some good friends, Big Frog will fit in just fine.

Filled with unique sturdy pop-ups, and suitable for little hands, this new pop-up book will appeal to Mo Willems fans old and new.

Books for adults

The Lilypad List: 7 Steps to the Simple Life by Marian Van Eyk McCain

During the holiday season, especially, we need to be reminded about what is truly important in our lives. McCain uses frogs as a metaphor for living a simple but meaningful life. She writes, “Looking back, I think frogs have always been around calling to me to notice them. I am glad I am noticing them now and listening to their small, quiet messages. They have lots to teach me.”

Most of us know we need to simplify our lives, slow down, buy less stuff, and live more lightly on the Earth. But McCain, a psychotherapist, helps us to understand why we feel we need to acccumulate so much stuff. Each chapter opens with a charming drawing of a frog.

Frog T-Shirts

Show your love of amphibians by wearing this fun t-shirt from FROGS ARE GREEN. A portion of the profits go toward supporting Amphibian Ark and other amphibian conservation organizations. The rest of the profits will go toward creating programs and educational materials to support our cause.

Stocking stuffers

Wear the GREEN! The FROGS ARE GREEN wristband, that is!

When my sons were young, I loved to give them Dover’s inexpensive little activity books ($1.50 each). Here is one–a stained glass frog coloring book. Note: although the link below is to Amazon, it can also be bought directly from Dover Publications.

Ecowear – Frog Pendant from Future Oxygen. This company offers 100 % biodegradable cards and lovely Frog pendants. Both the cards and pendants can be planted into the ground (the pendant contains flower and grass seeds). For every pendant sold they will donate $1 to benefit the Save the Reef campaign.

Holiday Sleeper Gift

The Calls of Frogs and Toads (with CD) by Lang Elliott

One Christmas, I gave my husband a book of bird calls–you find the bird in the book, press a button, and hear the bird’s call. He was a little underwhelmed by this gift! But over the years, we’ve used that book so many times. (It really captured our cats’ interest, too!). So in that spirit, I offer this frog call book as a sleeper holiday gift. Maybe on Christmas day after you’re tired of listening to holiday music, you can listen to great frog choruses instead!

10/23/09

Kissed Any Frogs Lately? The Frog Prince Revisited

With Disney’s Princess and the Frog coming in December, we’ve been thinking a lot about frogs and princesses and princes, especially new twists on the classic fairy tale. I reread the original Grimm’s tale and was surprised that in this version, the princess doesn’t kiss the frog. He sleeps at the end of her bed (hmmm…), and when she wakes up, he’s a handsome prince.

Pictured above, from left to right are "The best of Fractured Fairy Tales, Volume 1", "The Frog Prince, Revisited" and "The Prince of The Pond."

Pictured above, from left to right are "The Best of Fractured Fairy Tales, Volume 1", "The Frog Prince, Continued" and "The Prince of The Pond."

My favorite cartoon when I was about four was Fractured Fairy Tales. Does anyone else remember these cartoons? You can find most of them on YouTube, including the Frog Prince, about a frog who’s turned into a prince, but isn’t too happy about it. Eventually a witch turns both the prince and the princess into frogs, but being a Fractured Fairy tale, they don’t live happily ever after. They’re still bickering at the end, on their new home on the lily pad.

Another funny version of the tale is The Frog Prince Continued by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith, a picture book for ages 5-8, but like their other collaborations, it has crossover appeal to adults. In this version, the princess kisses the frog, who turns into a handsome prince. Of course, they get married and live happily ever after…or do they? The princess can’t stand the prince’s froggy habits. He hops around on the furniture and sneaks off to the lily pond. The prince decides that it would be best if he were changed back to a frog. But finding a witch who will do the job is harder than he expects. All is resolved at the end…This froggy couple “hops off happily ever after.”

Older readers, ages 9-12, will enjoy The Prince of the Pond by Donna Jo Napoli. Having been turned into a frog by a hag, a frog-prince makes the best of his new life as a frog. He falls in love, mates, raises a family, and instills a new kind of thinking into his frog family. He has a hard time talking with his long frog tongue, so he calls himself De Fawg Pin. I love this novel! It’s very sweet, but a bit sad, too. In the end, he’s changed back to a prince and marries a princess, but has to say good-bye to his frog family.

Have you read any other fun versions of the frog prince? If so, let us know!

08/4/09

Toad Lit 101 (The Wind in the Willows)

Continuing “Toad Week” at Frogs Are Green, I thought I’d write about literary toads.

I couldn’t find many books with toad characters, except Frog’s best friend Toad in the classic Frog and Toad books, which I wrote about in an earlier post. I do remember one toad character—Commander Toad, an intrepid toad in space. When my sons were young, they loved The Commander Toad series by Jane Yolen. These easy-to-read books for 2nd to 3rd graders are genuinely funny and absurd.

One toad character, of course, is a genuine literary star: Toad in The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, aka Mr. Toad in the Disney version. Toad is an unforgettable character—self-centered, obsessed with motor cars, impulsive, conceited, flying off on every adventure, and constantly getting into scrapes.

It’s possible Toad was Grahame’s alter ego. Kenneth Grahame was a stodgy London banker, who really wanted to be an artist/writer, spending his days in the countryside “messing around in boats” as River Rat so famously says to Mole.

The Wind in the Willows was published in 1908, but without illustrations. I have an edition printed in 1927, inherited from someone in my family. It has only one illustration on the frontispiece:

Ernest Shepard, who also illustrated the Winnie-the-Pooh books, first illustrated the book in 1931. Kenneth Grahame approved the sketches before he died, so this is usually considered the definitive edition. Over the years it has also been illustrated by Arthur Rackham, Michael Hague, and others.

Illustration by Ernest Shepard from The Wind in the Willows

Recently two annotated versions of the classic were published to coincide with the book’s 100th anniversary. One was published by Harvard University Press; the other was published by Norton. Charles McGrath wrote an interesting article in The New York Times, in which he discusses the sometimes questionable 21st-century interpretations of this classic.

Two new annotated versions of The Wind in the Willows

I received a copy of the book, illustrated by Tasha Tudor, when I was around 8, the summer after 2nd grade. My mother was part-owner of a bookstore and brought home the newly published book. That summer, I remember thinking I could read anything. I wasn’t intimidated by the book’s size or by the Edwardian prose. But I’m not sure I actually read more than a few chapters. Still, it’s on my bookshelf and has survived at least 10 moves in my life. Maybe this summer I’ll try to finish it.

NOTE: Please send along the titles of your favorite frog books (fiction) for future Amphibian Lit posts. Books with salamanders and newt characters okay too!

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Environmental Organization Helping to Bring Awareness About Frog Decline Around The World

Category Archives: Literary Amphibians