Caldecott Monday: Frog Went A-Courtin'

[osprey_archer]

Frog Went A-Courtin', the 1956 Caldecott winner, is totally charming. Gorgeous illustrations, alternating between lovely vibrant full-color illustrations and two-tone pages with green and black. I really wish I knew the tune of the song (it is included at the back, but alas I don't read music); I feel like this would be a wonderful book to sing aloud.

Next week: A Tree Is Nice, written by Janice Udry and illustrated by Marc Simont. I must confess this title is giving me some Giving Tree vibes, but hopefully it's totally different in every way and ends with the tree still standing around, shading people with its branches and not sacrificing itself for its ungrateful human.

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I *loved* this book, and there's a great sung version (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZM4CsauUjE) by Pete Seeger.

My mom I think sang it to me when she read it.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

In fact I love this sung version so much I'm going to have to see if I can get a version of it.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I always give this story a happy ending, though, with lots of amphibious frog-mouse children.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

The book ends with an ambiguous illustration: the cat jumps into the wedding and all the little animals are scattering, but will the cat catch them???? But I like to think they all got away to have amphibious frog-mice.

I hope your quest to get the Pete Seeger version meets with success!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

It did! The exact version was available on Amazon.