Frog and Toad Are Friends

Our rating: ***½

This book contains five stories about Frog and Toad, in which spring comes and Frog tries to wake Toad up, Toad tries to think of a story to tell Frog, Toad loses a button, Frog and Toad go swimming, and Toad is unhappy because he never gets any mail.

Light-hearted tales that are fun to read aloud. My favorite is the one where Toad tries to think up a story, perhaps because I myself am a writer. If you enjoy this book, you may want to also read Frog and Toad Together.

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches

Our rating: **½

This book is collection of several short stories by Mark Twain. The highlights include the title story, about a man who bets on a frog jumping race; and The Bad Little Boy, a cynical tale of a boy who is very bad, and yet has the best of luck.

If you like your humor a bit on the cynical side (I do), this one is for you. Otherwise, you’ll probably dislike these five stories. The link to Amazon is a different book, with several more stories in it. I don’t know what they are, but it was the only one I could find.

Frog and Toad Together

Our rating: *****

Five stories about Frog and Toad, in which Toad makes a list of things to do and can’t do anything that is not on his list, Frog has a garden and Toad wants one also, Toad makes cookies and he and Frog must stop eating them using will power, Frog and Toad decide to see how brave they are and Toad has a very disturbing dream.

These stories are absolutely hilarious! Toad is the sort who likes everything to go just the right way and doesn’t like to wait either. Frog is quiet and willing to try things again. I think my favorite story in this book is the one about the cookies. And of course there’s Toad’s ever-present phrase: “Blah.” I highly recommend this book for younger readers.