Customer Reviews

Froggy Gets Dressed

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As a kindergarten teacher, I have a pretty good idea about what kids like. This is one of their favorites. They ask to hear it over and over again. I would recommend this book to anyone who needs a great book. The premise is that Froggy wants to go out and play in the snow and keeps forgetting to put all his clothes on. In the end he left without underwear. The kids literally roar with laughter. A great book all the way around!

I fell for Froggy the minute I met him in Froggy Goes to School. He's a relative newcomer to the world of children's literature, but with his (prince) charming personality and zest for life, I expect he'll star in a few more books.

In his first appearance, Froggy awakens from his winter hibernation to the joy of small children everywhere -- SNOW! He hops out of bed and dresses for action, with plenty of fun to hear sound effects (zip! zup!). First his mom tells him to go back to sleep. Then, realizing that that's a losing battle, she does her best to make sure he dresses warmly. This entails reminding Froggy of articles of clothing he forgot to put on, so Froggy gets dressed and undressed a few times. After Froggy finally makes it outside, Mom reminds him of one important item he forgot -- UNDERWEAR! The magic word -- it makes Froggy blush and gives his friends, and his readers, the giggles.

Froggy finally gets so tired of dressing and undressing that he goes back to sleep. Maybe his mom knew that would happen all along.

I enjoy reading this book out loud - it contains lots of 'zips', 'zats' and other great sounds you can use to make your kids giggle. It's a good length for a bedtime story and ends, appropriately, with Froggy going to sleep.

Another in the prolific Jonathan London's "Froggy" series, this book about the amphibious one is a recursive story about all the clothes you must wear on a snowy day--and all the clothes you must take off (in the reverse order) when you forget to put some on.

In this Froggy tale, our green hero wakes up with incredible enthusiasm--it's like he was raised on caffeine--and he just CANNOT wait to go out and play in the snow.

"No! No! cried Froggy.
"I'm awake! awake!
I want to go out and play
in the snow."

Straight away, he puts on his socks, boots, hat, scarf, and mittens. London cleverly uses different sound effects for each item (e.g., socks get a "zoop!," and mittens, a "zum!"), and different verbs for each action: A scarf is tied on, boots are pulled. However, just as the excited Froggy is ready to join the other animals in the snow, his mother yells, "Frrrooggyy!" (and that's a direct quote) "Did you forget to put something on?" Froggy discovers that he forgot one important thing--to put on his pants.

That, of course, is an almost certain lock on kids' attention. But first, Froggy has to take off all his clothes (except his socks--they don't get in the way), put on his pants, then put them all his clothes on again. The hasty frog's mood jumps from joyful to exasperated surprise to determined. Subsequently, his mother clues him into noticing that he has forgotten his coat and shirt, and, of course, his underwear. All this putting on and taking off and putting back on tires Froggy out, and he crawls back into bed. The book's basic plot and repetitive scheme will engage most toddlers, and teach them a lot about clothes (they all look so cozy!), sequencing, and word structure. The illustrations, colors, and font are big and bright, and despite all the action, the pages look uncluttered.

(One very minor complaint regards the synchronization of text and illustration. On one of the three pages where Froggy realizes he forget to put something on, he is shown smiling as he prepares a snowball. It's really unfortunate when this sort of editing error occurs, and I've seen such problems [poor continuity is another example] in other books for kids.)

Illustrator Frank Remkiewicz also does wonders with facial and body expressions. Still, I wonder whether somewhat older toddlers and those in early elementary school might feel a little disappointed that Froggy doesn't get to play. It's realistic--a kid or a frog WOULD get tired with all that dressing exercise--but I didn't like that the mom smiles so broadly when Froggy goes back to bed. However, I doubt that the intended audience is going to give a rivet about that.

It's very very difficult to dislike froggy. Those wide innocent eyes. That wide innocent mouth. He's like Kermit the Frog in picture book form. And though Froggy has been around some ten years plus, he's just as beloved of children today as he has ever been. You want a good read aloud story? Just pick up the nearest Froggy book you can find and start ah-readin'. Like Pavolv's dog, kids are somehow programmed to react to Froggy's setbacks and mistakes with uproarious cued laughter. The best example of this can probably be found in the lovely laughable, "Froggy Gets Dresssed". Arguably the best in the series ("Froggy's First Kiss", has its admirers as well, I should note), the book's a great Intro to Froggydom. And in the wintertime it's an ideal choice for your little ones.

First of all, frogs hibernate in the winter. This is a fact of life. No one disputes this. But this winter is different. Froggy wakes up in his warm toasty bed, takes one look out the window and shrieks with delight, "Snow! Snow!... I want to play in the snow!". Froggy's mother attempts to dissuade her little one from this course of action, pointing out that frogs are not snow-playing creatures. Froggy remains undeterred. He dresses hurriedly and flops outside. Whoops! Froggy seems to have forgotten his pants. So he runs back inside, puts on the missing item and runs outside. Whoops! He's forgotten his shirt and coat. You see where this is going. About the time it becomes clear that Froggy has forgotten his underwear (cue the laughter of underwear obsessed kids everywhere) he's too tired to do anymore playing in snowdrifts. And so, it's back to bed he heads.

You want alliteration in your picture books? Well brother, you've got alliteration. One of the great draws in "Froggy Gets Dressed" are the sounds made as Froggy dresses. Listen: "So Froggy put on his socks - zoop! Pulled on his boots - zup! Put on his hat - zat! Tied on his scarf - zwit! Tugged on his mittens - zum!". It's twice as much fun to say aloud as it is to read to yourself. But Jonathan London is only half the genius in the Froggy world. Illustrator Frank Remkiewicz deserves just as much credit as well. Froggy is such a likable protagonist that it's hard not to read the book over and over just to watch him as he leaps, hops, dresses, undresses, and generally has a fine ole time. And his mother, though she tells him that frogs sleep in the winter, is mostly amused by his antics. She carries a bemused smile on her face as he runs hither and thither in the snow, donning various articles of clothing. Clever children may even wonder why it is that Froggy HAS all this winter clothing if he tends to sleep during the winter. Such children should be immediately deemed geniuses and given full scholarships to Yale. Ditto adults who say the same thing.

All in all, it's hard to find a better upbeat winter bedtime story than dear old "Froggy Gets Dressed". It's one of those sure-fire hits that the kids will be bound to enjoy. A top notch bit of kiddie fare. Recommended in spades.

My wife is an elementary school teacher. We stumbled across this book in another teacher's classroom, and had a great time reading through it.

For kids, "Froggy" uses a very memorable story to teach them the basics of dressing. Even if they already know, they'll have a great time reading this book along with you.

I'd recommend this book to any parent who is looking for a fun and educational story to read to their child. Kindergarten teachers, I'm sure, already know the great value of "Froggy Gets Dressed."

You and your kid(s) are guaranteed to have a good time with this one!

You should read Froggy Gets Dressed because it is a very good book. In this book, Froggy would go outside and his mom would tell him to come back inside because he would forget to put all of his stuff on. You should read this book to find out about the end of the story. We would recommend this book to friends, family, kids at other schools, cousins and teachers.

I read this book to my pre school class and they just loved it, especially when Froggy forgets his underwear. We bought copies of this book to give to all of the children for christmas. My daughter Melissa is going to graduate in May with a teaching degree so I am buying this book to give to her so she can share this story with her class. Great Great Book for young children

My three year old little boy Nicklas loves this book to death he thinks it the greatest book he has ever heard me read to him, he likes reading it over and over again. He loves the noises the clothes make when froggy puts them on. And he also loves when the mother frog yells for froggy and asks himm if he forgot to put something on, ands how embarassed froggy gets when he forgets to put on his underwear.

This book is a must for anyone with a child. I have worked in a daycare and also am an education major. All the children I have read this book to have fallen in love with Froggy and his dressing mishaps. Even two year olds request "Froggy snow!" during book time. This is also great for younger elementary students who love to read this book and have it read to them. Watch out for the laughter!