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Frog Song

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Frog Song
by Brenda Z. Guiberson, illustrated by Gennady Spirin
Henry Holt, 2013.  Unpaged.  Nonfiction

     Three pages into this book about frogs, there is a toad, and on the next page, another. One of my quickly consulted sources said that toads are really frogs. The World Book said that some toads are of the same order as frogs, but that True Toads have their own family.  We must assume that the Surinam toad and the Great Plains narrow-mouthed toad (who lives with tarantulas! ewww!) are of the frog order and go on to enjoy the pleasures of this beautiful and informative book. Guiberson and Spirin are a peerless pair, Spirin's rich, deep-hued, Slavic paintings providing the perfect illustration of Guiberson's descriptions of Canadian frogs that freeze in winter but come back to life in the spring, of Ethiopian frogs that dig trenches for their tadpoles to slide into the water, and so on.  An excellent introduction for kids interested in frogs, and which kid isn't?
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