Frog and Toad All Year

Excellent beginning reader for kids.

Author: Arnold Lobel Illustrator: Arnold Lobel Pages: 64 Publisher: HarperTrophy Published Date: 01/01/1976 Genre: Fiction - For Beginning Readers PB Price: $3.99 Publisher's Recommended Reading Level: Ages 4-8 Read Aloud: 4+ Read Alone: 6+

Common Sense Note

The title characters are likable and children enjoy reading about or hearing their seasonal adventures. The pictures are expressive and engaging.

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Common Sense Review

Reviewed By: Mary Dixon Weidler

Another excellent beginning reader by Arnold Lobel, whose characters personify the values--respect, caring, humor--that all friends should share. In five well-told stories (accompanied by his trademark swamp-brown and moss-green sketches), Lobel takes his readers through a year of adventures that are not only instantly identifiable but also heartwarming and inspiring.

Kids enjoy the vocabulary, which is easy to read but not overly simple. They can relate to the amphibious characters' human qualities. Sometimes Frog and Toad try to do the right thing (such as when Toad buys ice-cream cones for Frog and himself to counteract the heat of a summer day) and his good intentions turn out all wrong (the chocolate ice cream melts all over Toad, who then, looking like an "ice-cream monster," scares the forest creatures--including Frog).

"I mess up like that too!" said one girl when she heard the story. Other kids related to Toad's fear of sledding ("I used to worry about falling off, too!" one four-year-old said when his older brother read the story to him).

This is just one of four Frog and Toad chapter books for developing readers. Try Frog and Toad Are Friends. Amphibian lovers will enjoy Joy Cowley's Red-Eyed Tree Frog.

From The Book

When I was small, not much bigger than a pollywog, said Frog, "My father said to me, 'Son, this is a cold, gray day but spring is just around the corner.' I wanted spring to come. I went out to find that corner."

Plot Summary:

Seasons change, but friendship doesn't, as Toad and Frog prove in five stories. Be it a simple walk by the river, an exciting sleigh ride, or the magic of Christmas Eve, everything is better when shared with a special friend.

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