Stephen's Frog

Joan Sanderson is a professional storyteller doing “Book Talks” for
Minnow Books.

This is a storybook without words. How strange! Yet it is appealing.
There is a story line: Stephen finds a frog, visits his grandparents
with the frog, realizes that he cannot keep it, and comes to his own
resolution of what he must do with it. Stephen finds the most wonderful
place of all to leave his frog—in the pond with its own kind. He does
not return, however, with an empty jar and a defeated look on his face.
He fills his jar with flowers that he picks and returns with a smile.

The story is simple and fits well with the “drawings,” which are
made out of bright cut-out material and lend the book something of a
three-dimensional feel. Despite the simplicity, there is a lot of
stimulating detail. For example, on the page where Stephen is trying to
decide what to do with his frog, we see weeds, greenery, flowers, little
black bugs, big black bugs, worms, and ladybugs, even though the bulk of
the page is taken up with Stephen’s blond head.

This is a book that might span a broad range of ages, from two to
perhaps six or seven. The plot would appeal to anyone who has wanted a
pet and discovers it just won’t work. Very young children could enjoy
language development while telling their own stories using these
pictures, older children could write their own stories, and parents
could practice developing their own imaginative vocabulary. What fun!