Little Frog
Author: 
Ranjitham Paul
Illustrator: 
T.R. Rajesh
age group: 
3+ yrs
Number of pages: 
20
Publisher: 
Tulika
Themes:
monsoon frogs days of the week colours amphibians
Genre:
picture book, fiction, bi-lingual
 

Little frog jumps out of the pond for the very first time - but the land is dry.

When will it rain? he asks his mother. When the sky becomes dark with clouds, she responds.
So, day after day, Little Frog gazes at the sky in the hope of seeing black clouds roll in. In his eagerness, every time he saw something black and not knowing any better, he mistakes it for a rain cloud and excitedly calls out, Croak! Croak! It's going to rain, it's going to rain!

Sunday goes and Monday comes. The days of the week follow each other in quick succession, until finally on the last day of the week, the rain clouds do arrive on the scene.

Clear, lucid illustrations with a lot of white space makes it very inviting for a young child to delve into the book. Also, being a bi-lingual book is a great asset to a child read and comprehend the story in the second language.

A great book for teaching the days of the week. Also, the adult reading out to the child could also make it a fun guessing game, such as, What could this black thing in the sky be? Children will also take delight in singing the refrain.

Another interesting feature is the use of various animals associated with water - the crane, duck, crab, peacock, kingfisher and fish, which in itself become another learning tool.
 

Reviewed by Shamim Padamsee