Children's Corner: Too Many Frogs

Summary: Rabbit lives alone. He cooks for himself, cleans up for himself, and at the end of the day, reads himself a story. It's a simple life, and he likes it. But one evening, Froggie shows up at his door. He wants to listen to Rabbit's story, too. While eating a snack-or three. While lounging on a pillow-or ten. And bringing over his family-dozens and dozens of frogs! Rabbit has finally had enough; Froggie will have to go! But when he sits down alone to read himself a story, Rabbit realizes something is missing: someone to listen; someone to share a wonderful story.

Keith Graves' boisterous, humor-filled artwork lends just the right touch to this multilayered tale that celebrates the joy of reading aloud. ~product description

Review: This one is fun. Froggie invites himself in and makes himself comfortable. Poor Rabbit loves his routine and finds the disruption to be jarring, but he handles it... to a point. I think there is something in this story for every child, from the child that clings to routine to the child that can't stick to one. My daughter is not overly attached to her schedule, but she does tend to insist that things be done her way so I like that this book opens a discussion about Rabbit's lesson, sometimes change can be good. Her stubbornness in this matter can also be related to Froggie's lesson, that you shouldn't just barge in and take over. I also like that this book teaches communication -if something's bothering you, speak up!

I find that this is a great book for reading with 'voices', not that it has to be read that way, obviously, but it lends itself to it well. I love the drawings and the attention to detail in them too. The bulgy-eyed frogs are some of my favorite frog drawings, by far. Most of the drawings are double-paged illustrations and there is only one instance in which I wish there had been a separate illustration for the text on both pages.

We checked this one out from the library, but Kidlet loves it so much, I think this may have to be a purchase. So snuggle up and read - you may even want to get a snack-or three...

Final Take: 4/5