Words of Wisdom from Amphibians! Frog and Toad--A Little book of Big Thoughts by Arnold Lobel

What can a yellow toad and a green frog tell us about friendship?? Quite a bit, in a comprehensive look back at Arnold Lobol's best-selling, award-winning I-Can-Read books, four of them, which, in addition to teaching early graders to read, imparts much more about making and keeping a friendship.

Frog and Toad have their moments of truth:

Friends tell you the truth....

"Frog, you are looking quite green!" said Toad, offering an ailing Frog a cup of curative tea.

 "But I always look green, Toad. I AM a frog!"

Even when it's hard to hear....

"You must not look at me in my bathing suit while I am getting in the water because I look funny in my bathing suit," said Toad.

"But Toad, you do look funny in your bathing suit," said Frog.

And when you don't feel like doing anything worthwhile, friends lie down and take a nap with you.

Even when you are in a totally grumpy mood, friends are flexible--ready to come back to visit...

..."about half-past May!!

Friends are there to share a pot of tea when their adventure plans are rained out, and to share cooling ice cream cones when the sun is out, and to just sit together and dream big dreams, in the new, retrospective look back from Arnold Lobel's quartet of books,Frog and Toad are Friends, Frog and Toad Together (I Can Read Level 2), Frog and Toad All Year (I Can Read Level 2), Days with Frog and Toad (I Can Read, Level 2) in Frog and Toad: A Little Book of Big Thoughts (Harper, 2020). For emergent independent readers, these gently humorous books are just the best.

Warts 'n' All: Thomas the Toadily Terrible Bully by Janice Levy

THOMAS WAS NEW IN TOWN. HE DRESSED TO IMPRESS.

HE STRUTTED HIS STUFF. HE GOT IN EVERYONE'S FACES.

Undoubtedly, Thomas is nattily attired, in his purple bowtie and dotted waistcoat, but it's hard to be a dapper dandy when nobody is impressed.

IF I CAN'T MAKE FRIENDS," HE THOUGHT, "I'LL BE A BULLY INSTEAD."

Thomas tries another tack at making an impression on his peers. He swaggers. He glowers. Although he tries to carry off being toadily tough, he can't even dominate poor wimpy little Gomer. Being bad to the bone is apparently way beyond Thomas' range.

But while Thomas is trying to intimidate Gomer, they both hear a bellow.

"RRRRRRRBIT!"

Now that's a BULLY!

He's bigger than big, and little Gomer begins to whimper.

"HE'S BEEN AFTER ME ALL DAY!"

Thomas may be toadily terrible as a bully, but he can think fast, and he uses his wits to trick this Truly Terrible Toad with one of the oldest ruses in the book, in Janice Levy's latest, Thomas the Toadilly Terrible Bully (Erdman Books, 2014). Illustrators Bill Storm and Esperanca Melo make the most of this turn-the-tables-on-the-bully storyline, using crackly toad-textured layers of paper and paint to provide plenty of eye-appeal to this toadish trickster tale, which leaves the real bully sputtering and toadily all wet and Thomas and Gomer bonding as toadily terrific friends. Pair this one with Anna Dewdney's best-selling Llama Llama and the Bully Goat (see review here) for an alternate take on taking care of a bully.