Frog and Toad are Friends
By Arnold Lobel
Frog and Toad are Friends is a book containing short stories of two friends, Frog and Toad. It’s an I Can Read! Book, level 2, meaning it has engaging stories, longer sentences, and language play for developing readers. Charming kids and their parents alike since 1970, it started a series of books about their adventures as friends together.
Friendship is the key
The 64-page book is actually five short stories wholly independent of each other. Each story has a little problem that must be solved, and the way they solve each problem is through friendship. Hence, the title. But, this book does it in a rather charming way, in my opinion.
Non-flashy picture book
I believe Mr. Lobel did his own illustrations and they are quite unique. Frog and Toad are drawn realistically, with flattened heads, wide mouths and elongated legs and toes. Interestingly enough, Lobel used primarily two colors, muted green and brown.
In a world where we usually use the bright and bold to attract a child’s attention, like the 2021 movie, The Mitchells vs The Machines, and picture books like Dr Seuss and Curious George, the illustrations of Frog and Toad are Friends seem really tame by comparison. But, as we can see by the 4.25 rating on Goodreads by more than 94,000 ratings, Frog and Toad Are Friends (Frog and Toad, #1) by Arnold Lobel | Goodreads, something seems relevant and captivating enough to today’s digitally stimulated child.
Five short stories
The Spring story starts it all off with an event many a child could relate to—one friend trying to wake another up to play, but the friend wants to stay asleep.
The last story, The Letter, is when Frog sends Toad a letter through the literal snail mail to cheer him up. It’s my favorite out of all the little stories because it is the ultimate act of friendship. Doing something for someone for the sole reason of making them happy. And how endearing is that.
Conclusion: Anthropomorphic animals are usually an automatic win for kids and great character writing also helps. Frog and Toad are Friends is #54 in Amazon’s beginner reader ranking, Amazon.com: Frog and Toad Are Friends: 9780064440202: Lobel, Arnold, Lobel, Arnold: Books, so it appears to still be a hit with today’s child.
With that, Mrs. Udderbutter stamps her Hoof of Approval!
Have fun reading!