Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The male bullfrog's thrumming song-"rumm rumm rumm"-marks the beginning and the end of the two-year cycle this book covers, beginning with an adult male bullfrog looking for a mate and ending with his offspring finding mates of their own. The stages of frog life are simply and clearly presented, though the narrative skips from egg to tadpole without mentioning the crucial step of fertilization. Harrison's plainspoken text-"A fish tries to eat an egg. Yuck!"-goes on to cover the young bullfrogs' progression from prey to predator, folding in details about hibernation and maturation. Cosgrove's full-spread illustrations situate cheerful, bulbous bullfrogs at various ages and stages in layered textures shaded mostly in green, blue, and lavender. Endnotes offer facts and resource links, capping this effective conjuring of the bullfrog's life and aqueous world. Ages 4-8. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Horn Book Review
On a spring night, a large, deep-voiced bullfrog puffs up his throat to make a distinctive callrumm rumm rummand attracts the attention of a female. Before long (euphemistic shorthand for external fertilization), eggs are laid on the surface of a pond, and Harrisons cheery, informative text shifts to the growth and development of the young bullfrogs through their first years of life. As tadpoles hatch in a pond, they eat plants and algae while dodging fish and reptile predators. As medium-sized bullfrogs, they Zap! Splash! and Gulp! down flies, spiders, and fishand sometimes other frogs. Someday the males may grow into the large bullfrogs that female frogs prefer as mates. As the book ends, the cycle begins all over again, and soon there will be more tadpoles. In Cosgroves illustrations, the wide-eyed frogs leap, swim, rest, and sing among blocks of color filled with energetic scribbles that outline the many plants of the wetland environments. Whether full-page illustrations or double-page spreads, the art is full of movement. A page of back matter gives more information about bullfrogs and includes a brief bibliography. danielle j. ford September/October 2019 p.112(c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The cycle of frog life begins with a male bullfrog's song. Harrison uses simple, short sentences to describe bullfrog courtship and development: singing, eggs hatching, tadpoles growing, eating and the threat of being eaten, hibernating, and a season of unsuccessful singing before the young frog grows big enough to sing loudly and attract a mate. Appropriately for the preschool audience, the author ignores the variations in bullfrog life that reflect different climate zones. He also simplifies breeding: "A female bullfrog likes his song. Before long she lays eggs." (There is no backmatter note about fertilization to help caregivers manage questions about what happens between the song and the eggs.) Debut illustrator Cosgrove uses pencils and digital tools to create stylized illustrations that show frogs in a likely environment. She shows the (textually unmentioned) differences between males and females nicely (males have a much larger tympanum, a hearing organ behind their eyes), but occasionally text and illustration don't quite match. On the spread that reads, "The babies have no legs," some of the tadpoles do have legs. On the next spread, "They grow fatter and begin to grow legs," and indeed, the picture shows the process of growth from tiny tadpoles to larger ones developing legs. The text lends itself well to reading aloud, with opportunities for sound effects, and the illustrations show well from a distance.A useful addition to a nature-themed storytime. (additional facts, further reading, online references) (Informational picture book. 3-6) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
