Frogs!

Gr 4–6—Pringle's readable text explores the wide range of shapes, sizes, colorations, habits, and habitats of these elusive, intriguing creatures. He includes flying frogs, marsupial frogs, and the brilliantly colored poison frogs that can kill predators with their toxins. Children learn about frogs that lay their eggs in ponds and puddles and those that nurture their tadpoles in their mouths until the froglets are fully developed. Henderson's lovely, realistic illustrations keep careful step with the text, showing the amphibians in all their variety and even providing a double-page "hide-and-seek" that emphasizes their skill at camouflage. The tiny Gold frog and the Cuban frog, tied for smallest in the Guinness Book of Froggy Records, have been supplanted by an even more minuscule species (Paedophyrne amauensis), newly discovered after this book went to press. Pringle ends with a discussion of the dangers frogs face from loss of habitat, including chemically induced deformities and new diseases ravaging their populations. An author's note is a revelation of his own affection for these creatures and his personal efforts to give them a fighting chance. A list of conservation organizations is included. Comparable in difficulty to Nic Bishop's attractive Frogs (Scholastic, 2008) and Mark Moffett's Face to Face with Frogs (National Geographic, 2008), and much simpler than Sandra Markle's intriguing The Case of the Vanishing Golden Frogs (Millbrook, 2011) or Pamela Turner's engaging The Frog Scientist (Houghton Harcourt, 2009), this is a handsome, informative look into the unexpectedly diverse world of frogs.—Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY