Post the celebrations and exchange of friendship bands, the obvious theme for our reading time was friendship. So, this week our book club is reading Caldecott Honour Book – Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel. Buy the book here.
Why are we reading this?
This compilation of short, simple yet engaging five stories with frog and the toad, as the protagonists strike an immediate chord with emerging readers. The language is extremely eloquent and coherent along with subtle illustrations in grey, greens and browns.
Presented as I can Read (Reading with help) series, this tale of friendship between the frog and toad makes for a timeless read.
Peek-a-boo into the book!
“True friends don’t let you do stupid things …alone!” – Anonymous
This quote exactly resonates with the theme of this classic! The frog and toad are always with each other through thick and thin – just as friends should be. There are five adventurous short stories of their friendship that makes the readers roll over the floor laughing and giggling.
The book starts with the first chapter where the frog arrives at the toad’s house to wake him from his long slumber. Using a little bit of wit, he convinces the sleepy toad to look at the on setting spring season. Together they enjoy the beautiful world outside.
The next chapter is yet another zany and crazy episode of their friendship where toad tries hard to take care of his not so well friend frog. He tries every possible way to think of a story to entertain him – from thinking, to walking around, to standing on his head to even pour water over his head and banging his head!!! His gestures alone made frog feel better while the toad, in turn, was sick. It was now the frog’s turn to narrate a story.
Well, if you thought the above was interesting, the third tale will just startle you. An absolutely relatable story when the frog and toad go on to search for a lost button. On their way, they find all sorts of buttons but they could not find the white, four-holed, big, round and thick button that belonged to the toad! The lines of the angry and tired toad are almost iconic when he says “The whole world is covered with buttons, and not one of them is mine!” Just when they come back home, they find the button right there. An absolutely relatable situation, isn’t it?
Moving onto the next story, these amphibians go to enjoy swimming. It is such a cute story about those light moments where your friends tease you for something rather funny representing the various shades of friendship. The frog tried hard to send away the turtle and the lizard and the snake and the field mouse so that they could not see the funny costume toad wore. Well until he joins the team of these animals laughing himself about the costume!
Last but not least, the two friends wait for a letter. The frog had written a letter and handed over to the snail to put in toad’s mailbox which arrived only after four days! Together they wait for the letter and end up having a great time. Buy here
So what are we saying?
- This lovely compilation of the different shades of friendship is enjoyed by children and adult alike.
- From writing letters to going swimming, telling stories to finding lost buttons, Frog and Toad are always there for each other—just as best friends should be.
- One is just not enough. We are sure once you read this lovely book, you want to read the other frog and toad books by the same author – Frog and Toad Together, Frog and Toad All Year, and Days with Frog and Toad.
- The classic Frog and Toad stories by Arnold Lobel have won numerous awards and honors, including a Newbery Honor (Frog and Toad Together), a Caldecott Honor (Frog and Toad Are Friends), ALA Notable Children’s Book, Fanfare Honor List (The Horn Book), School Library Journal Best Children’s Book, and Library of Congress Children’s Book.
Get hooked onto books. Happy Reading. See you all next week with an interesting booky-wooky talk.
Janani S Koushik
Mansi Zaveri
Aanandika Sood
