Summary
Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel is a collection of five short stories that are each a chapter where the two main charcaters, Frog and Toad, are best friends and the short stories are about there time together. Each of the chapters can stand alone as it's own story and can be read out of order.
The story is called "The List." In this story, Toad makes a list of everything he has to do and crosses out each list item that he completes. He goes to visit Frog and Toad ends up losing the list and it stops him from doing anything else, so they just sit together the whole day until it gets dark and Toad remembers the last thing on his list was to go to sleep and they fall asleep together.
The second story is called "The Garden," where Toad visits frog while Frog is gardening. This inspires Toad to plant some seeds, but they don't sprout as soon as Toad would like, so he does things like sings and reads to the seeds. He ends up falling asleep and when he wakes up he finds that the seeds have sprouted, so he believes that all the work that he did in singing and reading to the seeds helped them sprout.
The third story is called "Cookies," and in this story, Frog and Toad are eating cookies and have to excersies restraint and self-control to keep themselves from eating all the cookies. To do this, they hide the cookies in various places, but they end up getting the cookies out. Finally, they give the cookies away to some birds.
The fourth story is called "Dragon and Giants," where Frog and Toad read a book about brave people fighting dragons and giants. They decide to test their bravery by going outside to face various challenges and other animals. After surviving a snake, landslide, and a hawk, they go back home together and appreciate the bravery of each other while hiding underneath the covers and in the closet.
The last story is called "The Dream" and Toad dreams that he was performing on stage with Frog as his audience, but Frog gets smaller and smaller with each act until he disappears. Toad gets worried and he wakes up to find Frog with him and this makes Toad appreciate their friendship.
The story is called "The List." In this story, Toad makes a list of everything he has to do and crosses out each list item that he completes. He goes to visit Frog and Toad ends up losing the list and it stops him from doing anything else, so they just sit together the whole day until it gets dark and Toad remembers the last thing on his list was to go to sleep and they fall asleep together.
The second story is called "The Garden," where Toad visits frog while Frog is gardening. This inspires Toad to plant some seeds, but they don't sprout as soon as Toad would like, so he does things like sings and reads to the seeds. He ends up falling asleep and when he wakes up he finds that the seeds have sprouted, so he believes that all the work that he did in singing and reading to the seeds helped them sprout.
The third story is called "Cookies," and in this story, Frog and Toad are eating cookies and have to excersies restraint and self-control to keep themselves from eating all the cookies. To do this, they hide the cookies in various places, but they end up getting the cookies out. Finally, they give the cookies away to some birds.
The fourth story is called "Dragon and Giants," where Frog and Toad read a book about brave people fighting dragons and giants. They decide to test their bravery by going outside to face various challenges and other animals. After surviving a snake, landslide, and a hawk, they go back home together and appreciate the bravery of each other while hiding underneath the covers and in the closet.
The last story is called "The Dream" and Toad dreams that he was performing on stage with Frog as his audience, but Frog gets smaller and smaller with each act until he disappears. Toad gets worried and he wakes up to find Frog with him and this makes Toad appreciate their friendship.
Reference
Lobel, A. (1972). Frog and toad together. New York: Harper & Row.
Impressions
When reading Frog and Toad Together, it reminded of how important friendship and compainionship can be in our lives. In many of the stories, Toad has a tendency to become self-absorbed and Frog does caring things for Toad and this reminds him of what is really important, which is the friendship and the companionship that they share together. In the first story called "The List," I felt like I could really relate to Toad when he makes this long list of what needs to be done in the day. It reminded me of the times where I put so much priority on getting things done in the day that it would stress me out and I would get flustered to where I felt overwhelmed. When Toad loses his list, he becomes so overwhelmed that he ends up just sitting there, when the whole time, he had Frog by his side helping him and supporting him. This is book is a great way to remind or show readers that kindness and friendship are one of the most important things in life.
Professional Review
Bird, E. (2012, June 15). Top 100 Picture Books #15: Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel. Retrieved September 11, 2016, from http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2012/06/15/top-100-picture-books-15-frog-and-toad-are-friends-by-arnold-lobel/
Library Uses
Since the Frog and Toad series are such popular classics, a public library could do a larger scale event based on the series that could include Frog and Toad decorations, a game, a craft, and reading one of the stories from this book.
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