Alma Flor Ada

Friend Frog

RECOGNITIONS

Pick of the Lists Amer­i­can Book­sellers Association

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Field Mouse wants a friend. A friend to share secrets. One day he spots Frog by the pond and she seems per­fect. But when Frog invites him to play, Field Mouse despairs. Frog can croak; Frog can jump; Frog can swim! Field Mouse can’t. How will they ever be friends? Lori Lohstoeter has cre­ated the out­stand­ing art for this book.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

This very book is very dear to me, because, you see… I’m Field Mouse. Not very good at many things oth­ers find easy to do, I admire my friends who can sing, play instru­ments, com­pose music, paint, dance, who excel in many ways… It’s good to know that, like Field Mouse, I can offer a true friendship!

A fas­ci­nat­ing note on the mak­ing of the book. Want­ing to be sure that Field Mouse would be drawn with total accu­racy; Lori Lohstoeter reluc­tantly got her­self a lit­tle mouse which she observed as she sketched for the book. This is why the pic­tures are so won­der­ful! Of course, once the art was fin­ished she was too attached to her lit­tle friend to bring him back to the pet shop as she orig­i­nally intended.

This is one of the books I delight to read to stu­dents dur­ing my school vis­its. It allows me to tell them that one can have many dif­fer­ent kinds of friends and I share how my own life has been enriched by friends of all ages, diverse cul­tural back­grounds, and mul­ti­ple pro­fes­sions from many parts of the World. And I also like to reflect with them on the fact that to have good friends one must first be a good friend!

Reviews

School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 2-Poor Field Mouse is so wowed by Frog, who can jump, croak, and swim to beat the band, that he doubts whether the two of them can ever be friends. Then Field Mouse, who can’t do any­thing as well as Frog can, dis­cov­ers there is some­thing he can do. The acrylic-on-illustration-board paint­ings use strong lines and deep earth tones to cre­ate the world of the pond and the field that the two pro­tag­o­nists inhabit. Their expres­sions com­mu­ni­cate worlds-Frog, a fun-loving, enthu­si­as­tic sort, and poor, meek Field Mouse, whose face exudes pal­pa­ble yearn­ing. Pair this with John Schindel’s I’ll Meet You Halfway (McElderry, 1993; o.p.) and Kerry Argent’s Wom­bat and Bandi­coot: Best of Friends (Lit­tle, Brown, 1990; o.p.) for a sto­ry­time on the glo­ries of friend­ship. – Ann Wel­ton, Ter­mi­nal Park Ele­men­tary School, Auburn, WA

Image Gallery

READERS’ RESPONSES

If you have enjoyed read­ing or shar­ing this book, I would very much like to hear from you. Please click here to send your comments.

Sug­ges­tions for a cul­tural infused cur­ricu­lum which include this book can be found in The Alma Project from the Den­ver Pub­lic Schools. Click here.