So You Want to Be a Frog

If you are looking for an innovative, engaging picture book which simultaneously teaches you lots of interesting facts about frogs, then this is the perfect read! The book is about joining Frog Club and Fabio Frog, the coach, gives ten rules to absorb about joining the club.

Rule One starts with how a frog begins life as frogspawn, and Fabio asks the reader to, ‘Wriggle like crazy’(p.9). The book includes amazing facts about frogs: they can jump extremely far and their tongues are incredibly long. It is fascinating to learn about all the different types and colours of frogs; the gifted illustrator positions various green frogs crouched on an artist’s palette!

This volume is very comprehensive as regards factual content: there are pages covering the history of frogs, where in the world you can find different species of frogs, what they eat and how they are camouflaged. Fabio also invites the reader to try out croaking…

I thoroughly enjoyed this beautifully illustrated book and there are some clever devices including the Frog Club Checklist and the Clubhouse Menu. The endpapers at the beginning of the volume are truly beautiful. This is a splendid work of art and is a fine example of high- quality publishing from Walker Books.

When I learned that this is a follow-on title to So You Want to Be an Owl, I was delighted to discover there is more to savour from this talented author.  Jane Porter is a very experienced writer who often works with children and this understanding of youngsters shines through. Whether at home or school, little ones will love to pretend they are frogs as they also learn so much about these creatures. I am sure this will be such a successful series; congratulations to the whole team on creating an extremely clever and fresh look at frogs.