Customer Reviews

Frog in Winter

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Max Velthuijs' bold colors and serene compositions give his books an appealing simplicity. Here, Frog finds that it's hard being an amphibian in the winter, especially when compared to his non-amphibian friends, Duck, Pig, and Hare. It's a nice vehicle for teaching animal types, and the pictures are compelling; however, the last half of the story has a strangely dissonant tone. I was expecting Frog to somehow adapt to the cold; instead, he winds up half-frozen while looking for wood. His animal friends rescue him: Hare collects fire wood, Pig cools soup and knits a sweater, and Duck cheers him up. However, Frog looks "bravely" tolerant when he gets well and ventures into the snow again. Then Spring comes, Frog is a happy amphibian again, and the story ends with the animals saying how glad they are that Frog is back. It's not a really satisfying conclusion; it feels like Velthuijs just patched it on at the last minute. Still, this is a simple introduction to winter and the illustrations by the award winning Velthuijs are delightful.

Sometimes simple is best and this wonderfully simple book is but of one part of a grand series featuring Frog, a creation of Dutch born Max Velthuijs. This work was published in 1992. Despite his Dutch background and origin, Velthuijs's work was first published in English and there are quite a number of books in this series.

Frog discovers, much to his dismay and chagrin, that amphibians were not made for cool weather and most certainly not made for the cold, cold winter. Our little green guy is miserable. This is apparently his first winter and it is full of surprises! He cannot understand why everything is blanketed in white stuff, and he slips, slides and scrambles here and there with great difficulty. He is uncomfortable; miserable in fact.

But what does he see? Why the other animals having a great time, skating, running about throwing snowballs and enjoying life. What is a frog to do? Spring is a long, long way off. How will he make it?

Well thanks to his friends his life becomes much better. A fire, warm clothing, hot soup, a cozy scarf...they are all provided for Frog by his friends. And while not completely at ease with the situation, our little green friend will at least be somewhat comfortable until his sort of weather reappears.

The author has not been overly pushy here and has not dumbed-down the story as so often happens in books like this. No, he has the foresight and wisdom to let the reader and the child make up their own minds as to the lessons to be learned here. Of course there is a strong lesson here is friendship and the fact that we all need to help each other during times of need.

And now we come to the art. I like this stuff and kids love it. Velthuijs has used heavy bold lines and bright colors and with simple lines can tell whole stories via minor variations in the expressions upon the face of Frog and his friends.

The text of this work contains words that will be challenging for the beginning reader, but not overwhelming.

Overall, excellent work.

Don Blankenship

The Ozarks

When winter comes, frog finds that he is ill-adapted to the cold. Frog's friends, seeing his difficulty, rally around him, and help him through his time of troubles.

I liked this book, the illustrations are well done and quite humorous, and the storyline is entertaining. I would have hoped for a little more educational value for this book, but my first-grader loves it. The words push him a little, which is good, and the fact he enjoys it so much shows him just how much fun reading is. By the way, he selected this book as his prize for a reading trial at school, he liked it that much.