He's the Man! Tad and Dad by David Ezra Stein

My Dad has big, buggy eyes, strong legs, and a huge mouth.

He sings in a loud burp that echoes across the pond, and I love him.

As soon as I could wiggle, I swam everywhere with my dad.

Even though Tad is but a tadpole, Dad praises his little one's swimming. But when it's time to go to sleep, Tad suddenly shows that he can jump right out of reach.

And when Tad is put down and Dad makes his way to the muddy shore to sleep, he is surprised to find there's a wiggly little critter who follows him to his bed.

Then Tad grows a leg! Dad is even prouder when Tad grows a second leg, until, that is, he notices that in bed Tad can now wiggle and kick! Tad practices his jumps all day, and Dad's eyes are bleary and his legs are weary from loss of sleep.

"Tad!" said Dad. "When you jump on my bed, I can't sleep because you are always wiggling and poking, kicking and croaking."

Tad feels bad. He didn't know he was a terrible bedfellow. That night he moves out, telling Dad he's going to sleep by himself like a big frog.

But now Dad can't sleep. He wiggles and pokes, and kicks and croaks.

"FROG-BONE IT!" Dad croaks. "I still can't sleep."

With a small splash, Tad is right there.

"I think I know what you need, Dad!" said Tad. "A little company."

Caldecott artist David Ezra Stein's Tad and Dad (Penguin Group, 2015) is a fine story of a father frog who learns that sometimes kids grows up faster than their parents like. Stein's illustrations are classics, done in blackline and dabs of watercolor that have a bit of a retro feel to them, in full-bleed double-page pond views or spot art with a watery wash of a pond water hue. Just right for Fathers Day and "A wonderful bedtime or froggy-themed storytime read," says School Library Journal with a ribbitt!

Contrarian Amphibian: I Don't Want to Be a Frog! by Dev Petty

"I DON'T WANT TO BE A FROG! IT'S TOO WET!

"A RABBIT? I CAN HOP!"

"OH, SURE, SAID DAD FROG. "BUT WHERE ARE YOUR LONG EARS?"

A contrarian young tad declares that he cannot, will not, be a frog.

Toddlers can be ornery, but Dad Frog has about had it with his own little "taddler" who is clearly not comfortable in his own slippery skin. There's nothing about being a frog that he favors. Frogs are wet, slimy, and (YURGHH!) they eat bugs.

One by one the youngster trots out wannabe possibilities--CAT? PIG, MAYBE?

"YOU DON'T HAVE A CURLY TAIL OR EAT GARBAGE!" SAYS DAD.

"I CAN EAT GARBAGE," LITTLE FROG SAYS.

"EVERYONE SAYS THAT UNTIL THEY EAT GARBAGE," ADDS HIS DAD.

Dad Frog is weary with all this wrangling, his eyelids at half-mast--the adult form of the teenage eyeroll--as he goes on to explain that, no, his little one can't be a owl either. And, yes, frogs do eat bugs now and again, like it or not.

But then a shaggy, wolf appears just as the young frog declares he's gotta be something cute and warm. The wolf begins to lick his chops hopefully.

"I LOVE EATING CATS... RABBITS... OWLS! I MIGHT JUST GOBBLE ONE UP RIGHT NOW!" THE WOLF SLAVERS. "IT'S WHO I AM!

"GUESS THE ONE THING I NEVER EAT?"

Bingo! It's Please pass the bug sandwiches, Dad, in Dev Petty's debut picture book, I Don't Want to Be a Frog (Doubleday Books, 2015), as Little Frog suddenly sees the upside of froghood and deftly laps out his long tongue to snatch a fly in flight to prove who he is. Yum! Bugs! Artist Mike Boldt nails the negative toddler vibe in his argumentative big-mouthed little frog who finally confronts the uselessness of denying his own nature. This story is one that will please the young story book crowd still in their own negativity phase and yet get giggles with its snappy, ironic banter from savvy upper primary readers.