Frog and Toad All Year

Author: Arnold Lobel
Publisher: Harper & Row, Publishers
Copyright: 1976
Genre: Fantasy/Easy Reader
Pages: 64
Reading Level: Ages 6 to 8 (Barnes and Noble)
Summary: Frog and Toad All Year follows five adventures that the two friends have together during different times of the year. First, Frog takes Toad sledding. Toad doesn't want to go because he thinks it's too cold and is afraid to go on the sled alone. Frog goes on the sled with him but Toad doesn't notice when Frog falls off and Toad doesn't realize until later that he was sledding all by himself. In the end, Toad says "Winter is beautiful but bed is much better." In the next story, on a rainy day, Frog tells Toad about when he was young and he went around corners to see if spring was coming. They go outside when it stops raining and look around the corner of the house and see that spring is coming. The third story is set in the summertime. Frog wants some ice cream so Toad goes to the store and buys some but on the way back to Frog it melts all over him so he is covered in chocolate ice cream and twigs that have stuck to him and the cones look like horns on his head. All the animals run past Frog and warn him that something terrible is coming. Frog realizes it's Toad and helps him clean up and they go back to the store and buy more ice cream. The fourth story takes place in the fall. Each friend decides to rake the other one's lawn in secret. They each rake up the leaves on each others' lawns but when they are walking back to their houses a wind blows all the leaves back where they were. When each gets back to his house he says he will rake his own leaves the next day and they both go to bed happy because they did something nice for their friend. The last story in this book is at Christmas-time. Toad is waiting for Frog to arrive on Christmas Eve. Frog is late and Toad is imagining all the horrible things that could cause Frog to be late. Just as Toad decides he'd better go and save Frog, Frog shows up and explains he was late because he was wrapping Toad's present. They enjoy their Christmas Eve together.
Who would you recommend this book to? I would recommend this book to young children. It's a good book for helping them learn about friendship.
Potential problems or conflicts: I don't see any potential problems or conflicts with this book.
My reaction: This book was kind of fun. I think it would be more entertaining for young children than it was for me. This book had some good messages.