One Frog SangOn a wet spring night, one big frog sings KA-BLU-URP! Two tiny frogs sing PREEP, PREEP, three young frogs sing RIBBIT, RIBBIT, all the way up to ten frogs who trill PEEP, PEEP as a frog chorus fills the air with grunts and croaks and chirps. The night is resonant until . . . a car splashes down the street and all the frogs, from ten down to one, are hushed! Shirley Parenteau, http://www.shirleyparenteau.com/index_frog.html, offers a joyfully cacophonous counting up and counting-down story, bursting with lyrical sound play and visual surprises, vibrantly illustrated by Cynthia Jabar.
ONE FROG SANG was featured in Scholastic's Honeybee class catalog. Scholastic also put the book out on audio. It's such fun to hear the book read aloud, with all the various frog sounds and a chime to tell the child reader when to turn the page.
ONE FROG SANG released by Candlewick Press, received terrific reviews. A children's librarian blogging at Storytime Staples posted, "One of my new favorites, this picture book works well in a counting storytime theme or it may be used to emphasize phonological awareness in an animal storytime theme...perfect for an interactive storytime adventure with preschoolers."
Here are comments from Kirkus: “Children will love making the range of frog sounds presented in this entertaining counting story…Lyrical language is really the icing on the cake of this successful offering.”
And from School Library Journal: “Lively, poetic text invites reading aloud. Verbs are particularly well chosen; the frogs crouch, huddle and ka-plop. Children will enjoy finding and counting the creatures on each page.”
The San Francisco Chronicle called ONE FROG SANG, "A good story for frog-filled summer nights." The reviewer especially liked the eight bullfrogs under the bridge who boomed: Woomp, Woomp. Those were my favorites, too. I listened for awhile to bullfrogs under our bridge, trying to hear their call phonetically.
And I love this comment on the book from another reviewer: "A veritable swamp-phony."