Category Archives: Read about Frogs

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!

08/31/09

Frogs in the Classroom: Books and DVDs

School is just around the corner, so we’ve put together some recent books and DVDs about our amphibian friends that you, your students, or your kids might enjoy. The descriptions are from Amazon or from the publishers’ websites.

Books for Kids

Face to Face with Frogs by Mark Moffet. (National Geographic, 2008). 32 pgs. 4-8.

You’re two inches away from a poison dart frog. You’re lying on the rainforest floor as she hops toward you, utterly fearless. This deadly terribilis frog has nothing to fear; your fear is that any accidental contact with your skin could mean death! Let Mark W. Moffett, winner of the 2006 Lowell Thomas Medal for Exploration, show you around the diverse world of frogs.

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Frogs by Nic Bishop (Scholastic Nonfiction, 2008). Ages 7-11, 48 pages.

For the first- to third-grade set, frogs are an endless source of fascination, especially when looked at VERY close up. See tiny poison dart frogs and mammoth bullfrogs, as Nic Bishop’s amazing images show the beauty and diversity of frogs from around the globe.

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The Frog Scientist (Scientist in the Field Series), by Pamela S. Turner and Andy Comins (Houghton Mifflin, July 2009) 64 pages, ages 9-12

This Scientists in the Field title is about frog scientist Dr. Tyrone Hayes, who has explored the effects that pesticides, particularly atrazine, have on frogs and, in turn, on us.

This summer we did a post on Dr. Tyrone Hayes. With Atrazine in the news just this week, I hope we will continue hear a lot more from Dr. Hayes.

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Books for High School Students and Above

Extinction in Our Times: Global Amphibian Decline, by James P. Collins and Martha L. Crump, introduction by Thomas E. Lovejoy III (Oxford University Press, June 2009).

The first book to fully examine the dramatic, ongoing extinction of amphibian species across a whole vertebrate class, revealing what it may portend for the health of the planet. Joining scientific rigor and vivid storytelling, this book uses amphibian decline as a lens through which to see more clearly the larger story of climate change, conservation of biodiversity, and a host of profoundly important ecological, evolutionary, ethical, philosophical, and sociological issues.

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We have ordered this brand new book, published this summer, and are looking forward to reading it.

DVDs

Nature Frogs: The Thin Green Line, PBS DVD

Frogs have been hopping the planet for more than 350 million years; evolving into some of the most wondrous, diverse and beloved animals on earth. Suddenly, they’re slipping away. Some say it’s the greatest extinction since the dinosaurs. Ecosystems are beginning to unravel and medical cures are vanishing. It’s a global crisis, mobilizing scientists around the world to stem the tide, before the next frog crosses the thin green line.

We watched this show online on the PBS website—it’s well worth watching. This DVD would be great for a high school biology, environmental science, or social studies class.

Occasionally blog readers send us their products to review. We received a DVD called Danni’s Tales written and directed by Allen Plone and produced by Damon Cohen. This innovative series combines live action with animation. The show is set in a classroom where Danni Donkey introduces her students to special friends while they travel around the world, enjoying music, dance, and learning about the world’s animals and the environment.

We watched a few of the shows, and we think they will delight children. Each show features a different animal—frogs, bears, whales, and others. They are fun, quirky, and educational—the songs are catchy and clever. Take a look at their website, where you can play clips of the episodes.

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07/30/09

A Froggy Birthday

I celebrated my birthday this past week, and my husband John gave me a frog book, wrapped in frog paper, with, of course, a frog birthday card (featuring a red-eyed tree frog).

Anyway, I love the book he gave me: Frogs and Toads of North America: A Comprehensive Guide to their Identification, Behavior, and Calls by Lang Elliott, Carlos Davidson, and Carl Gerhardt. Each page spread features one type of frog: on the left is all the information about the frog, on the right side is a full-page photo of the frog. This book is packed with the natural history of frogs and toads, including information about their range and habitat, descriptions of behaviors, and tips for finding, observing, and identifying frogs and toads.

So as you take pictures for the FROGS ARE GREEN photo contest and need to identify the frog or toad, or if you wonder what kind of frogs and toads you have in your backyard or in your part of the country, consider getting this book. The book also comes with a CD of the calls of 99 frog calls.

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06/21/09

What the Frogs Are Telling Us

In 1995, a teacher and her students in southern Minnesota discovered a pond full of frogs with deformities: some frogs with extra legs or eyes missing, others with extra eyes or missing limbs.

A Plague of Frogs by William Souder tells the story of what happened next as these deformed frogs were later found all over Minnesota, and in other parts of the US. The book is both an ecological detective story and a tale of scientific investigation. Were the deformities a natural occurrence or were they caused by toxins in the environment?

Ultimately Souder concludes that ecosystems are so complex and the organisms in them so interconnected that it is difficult for scientists to tease out the exact causes of these malformations. It’s likely, however, that the frogs were physically manifesting the unhealthiness of our environment.

As Souder writes:

So frogs are telling us a lot—so much, perhaps, that we cannot fully understand the message. Frogs are succumbing to parasites, to pesticides, to increases in ultraviolet radiation, to global warming. The earth is changing and the frogs are responding.

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This book was written in 2000, before the chrytid fungus that is causing massive die-offs of amphibians became so widespread. I do think it’s worth a read, however, if only to remind us that we have to be careful what chemical and toxins we release into the environment because ultimately we don’t really know what the effects will be on wildlife—and on us. We need to listen to what the frogs are telling us.