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!

12/1/09

Last Call for Frogs: A Chorus of Colors

In case you’re planning a holiday visit to “the City” (what we locals call Manhattan), we want to remind you to go see the exhibit Frogs: A Chorus of Colors at the American Museum of Natural History before it closes January 3. This traveling exhibit from Clyde Peelings Reptiland is fun and informative, even for the youngest kids. The 200 live frogs are in realistic natural habitats, complete with rock ledges, waterfalls, and live plants. Some of the frogs, especially the poison dart frogs, are amazingly colorful and look like little jewels.

Susan visited the exhibit again with her family and took some photographs of the frogs. I enjoyed the exhibit so much, I’m also going again before the frogs leave New York City.

Argentine Horned Frog at the AMNH, photo by Susan Newman

We received a behind-the-scenes video from the museum of the feeding and prepping of the frogs:

The exhibit is traveling to MUZEO in Anaheim, California, in February. If you’re planning a trip to Disneyland, definitely take a detour and see the frogs, too!

11/24/09

Many Thanks, and a Red-Eyed Tree Frog for You!

We have a lot to be grateful for at FROGS ARE GREEN. We’ve received over 10,000 visitors since we started the blog back in May. We are so grateful for your comments and for your participation in our blog.

As a token of our thanks, Susan designed a poster of our mascot, the Red-Eyed Tree Frog, that you can download and print out for FREE (in three different sizes). We hope you enjoy it and will put up a copy at your home, school, or office to spread the message about our amphibian friends.

Happy Holidays!

Don’t forget to check our galleries of our photo contest photos, wonderful frog art from kids, and photos of wild backyards! (Click on the pictures in the right column of the blog. Feel free to send us your pictures to be included, too!)

Click here and it will take you to the download page.

11/19/09

Frog Call of the Week: Jeremiah the Bullfrog

Jeremiah (the American bullfrog) is our largest native frog, growing from 6 to 8 inches in length. Bullfrogs are found throughout most of North America. They like to hang out in large bodies of water like lakes, ponds, and slow-moving streams. Where bullfrogs have been introduced (for example, in the western U.S.), they have become pests because they eat anything smaller than themselves, including native frogs.

The bullfrogs call sounds like rumm….rumm…rumm….or a stuttering ru-u-u-umm…ru-u-u-umm (often written as jug-a-rum).*

I picked up a book recently called The Frog Book, written in 1906 by herpetologist Mary C. Dickerson. She wrote beautiful descriptions of the amphibians she studied. Here’s her description of the bullfrog call:

If we go rowing on river, lake, or park lagoon some moonlight night in late June [in the northeast], we are certain to hear the deep-tone call of the Bullfrog many times. Coming as it does at unexpected intervals and from unexpected directions, it seems startlingly weird in the quiet of night. For June nights are quiet. The insect orchestras are not in full swing, and the frog choruses have disbanded. The Bullfrog does not sing in chorus; the call is an isolated one. The notes are so low that we think of him as the bass viola among frogs. The call resembles, to a considerable degree, the roar of a distant bull..

Here’s a video of a bullfrog calling, created by Ravenswood Media. Enjoy!

Info from The Calls of Frogs and Toads by Lang Elliott and The Frogs and Toads of North America by Lang Elliott, Carl Gerhardt, and Carlos Davidson. Both books include CDs of frog calls.

11/4/09

Frog Call of the Week: Spring Peepers

Can you tell the difference between crickets and spring peepers? I used to get confused sometimes between the sound of crickets chirping and frogs calling. Some frogs have bird-like calls. In anticipation of next spring, and in hopes of becoming better Frog Watchers, we are highlighting one frog call per week. We’ll start with familiar frogs in North America, but will also feature frogs from around the world. Below you’ll hear spring peepers and crickets so you can learn to tell the difference. Actually, it’s kind of fun to play the videos at the same time, too!

Spring peeper calling:

Crickets chirping:

If you would like us to highlight a particular frog call, please let us know!

Frogs Are Green

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

Category Archives: Learn about Frogs