Frog and Toad All Year by Arnold Lobel

Frog and Toad All Year by Arnold Lobel (Canada) - (US)
I Can Read Books, Level 2
Frog and Toad series, Book 3


Pages: 64
Ages: 6+
Finished: Feb. 15, 2011
First Published: 1976
Publisher: Scholastic
Genre: children, easy readers
Rating: 4/5


First sentence:

Frog knocked at Toad's door.

Acquired: Purchased used at a book/garage sale or thrift shop.

Reason for Reading: Ds read aloud to me as his reader.

The edition I have is a vintage Scholastic book which is shorter and wider in size than these readers usually are. It also does not contain the "I Can Read" moniker. Otherwise my cover looks the same as that pictured. I've always enjoyed Arnold Lobel, but as a kid these Frog and Toad books didn't appeal to me so I've only discovered there charm as an adult.

This book sees the two friends through the year with a story for each of the seasons, beginning and ending with winter. In the first story Frog forces Toad out of the house to enjoy the winter weather but Toad would rather be home warm and snug in his bed. Next, on a rainy Spring day Frog tells Toad a story of his childhood when his father told him Spring was just around the corner, so Frog started looking around corners trying to find Spring. Next comes summer and Toad buys two Chocolate ice cream cones to take back for him and Frog to eat. Along the way the summer sun melts them and Toad becomes a frightening mess, scaring everyone he meets along the way. Autumn is my favourite season and this was ds's favourite story. Frog finds his yard full of leaves to be raked so he decides to sneak over to Toad's place and rake his leaves, while at the same time Toad has had the very same bright idea. They both work hard all day long and as they walk home a wind picks up and they arrive back home to see that tomorrow they will have to rake their own yards. But each goes to bed feeling good about how the other must feel to have come home to find his yard raked for him. And finally we finish off with a Christmas Eve story, where Toad is worried what is keeping Frog so long to arrive and imagines all sorts of terrible things that could have happened to him on the way so he prepares a rescue kit for every possibility before he goes in search of him. Lovely stories of friendship with Lobel's usual delightful illustrations.