The Big Wide-Mouthed Frog

by Ana Martín Larrañaga

"I'm a big wide-mouthed frog and I eat flies," says the chirpy big wide-mouthed frog to the kangaroo, the koala, the possum and the emu. "Who are you, and what do you eat?" Then the big wide-mouthed frog meets a crocodile - and finds out that sometimes it's better to keep your big wide mouth shut! Larranaga's illustrations use bold blocks of color and work strikingly well. Small children will enjoy joining in the frog's refrain, while beginner readers will find the repetition helpful. - The Daily Telegraph ...a delightfully illustrated story...has all the hallmarks of success. - Yorkshire Post

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, Storytime, Humor, Fiction, School

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Ana Martín Larrañaga was born in San Sebastian and grew up in the countryside of Castilla, together with four siblings and lots of cousins. She studied Fine Art in Salamanca but only decided to become an illustrator after a Summer School with the Spanish illustrator, Asun Balzola. Ana spent seven years in the UK, and has also lived in New York. Now she lives with her little family in Germany.

Reviews

[🎲🎧❤️CHanCE💔🎼🎲 · Rating 5 out of 5]

The big wide mouthed frog almost got eaten by the crocodile

[Ciaran Mcnamee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A big wide-mouthed frog sets off to see the world - or at least Australia. He meets lots of animals and asks them what they like to eat. Eventually, he meets a crocodile that eats wide mouthed frogs, but luckily he escapes.

I read this book to my year 1 class at the end of the school day. The frog asks questions bluntly, which can be used for comic effect, and which the children in my class enjoyed. I think The Big Wide-Mouthed Frog would also appeal to children in Reception. I did not dislike this book and would be happy to read it to a class again.

Not a great deal happens in the story and so I do not think The Big Wide-Mouthed Frog is likely to be a core text for literacy. In addition to being read at storytime, children could read it during guided reading. It could be used in a literacy/PSHE class to encourage children to think about the types of food that animals and humans eat. It could also be used in geography to introduce children to animals that are indigenous to Australia such as kangaroos, koalas, possums and emus.

[Tc · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a terrific book! I love using character voices when reading this one to children. It is a great book for discussing animals, life cycle, and environment. This book is perfect for acting out with stick puppets, or for having children act out the characters.

[Ali Book&Seaglasshunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

A “Big, wide-mouthed frog” encounters many different animals, repeatedly questioning them with “Who are you? What do you eat?” He’s a tad bit rude and aggressive in his questioning, maybe even a bit cocky. Soon he will learn that having a big mouth can get you into trouble!
This book was just ok for me. I see the moral/lesson in there (knowing when to “keep your big mouth shut”), but I feel like I’d need to dig it out a little too much for the age range this one really would appeal to. I think the specific questions could have been different to show off the loud mouth quality a little more, because I don’t really consider asking “who are you?” Or “what do you eat” to be especially rude coming from preschoolers.

[Twos Bothell · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has repetition which is helpful for little ones. I am not sure my friends understood the humor in the frog asking what everyone ate and finding out that he was lunch to one of them. But still, they seemed to like it and it did introduce new animals - a kangaroo, a koala, and a possum. I just thought the frog was a little blunt in his questioning and description of these strangers he is meeting. Though kids do that all the time...

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

That's an opossum.. not an Australian possum.

This book had a clever, funny story. However it's clearly supposed to be set in Australia with Australian animals, yet the "possum" in the book is an American opossum, very different from Australian possums.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story time September 2017-- very well received--they loved telling the frog what the animals were!

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute yet predictable story. A solid three star read. There are better frog books out there though!

[Marek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny story. Fun illustrations. It’s sure to get your little ones giggling.

[Justine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute book!

[Nickie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A funny story to share with children although not quite sure they understand the punch line!

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very colorful illustrations. Use a big-mouth frog voice and it really captures the reader!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Traditional story from Australia.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been a family favourite for years, you know the little joke is coming and it never disappoints

[C (one.chapteratatime)]

I am constantly quoting this Frog!

[KaitandMaddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

We loved the ending.

[Bonnie Arriola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny and a good message for kids on how to treat others

[Jolynne Dougherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heard it read in kindergarten this morning. Cute story. The students enjoyed looking for the fly on each page and were surprised by the ending.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the past four years, the children in my four-year-old preschool classroom have laughed and enjoyed The Big Wide-Mouthed Frog; the rhyme and repetition from page to page appeals to preschool children. It is not uncommon for requests for The Big Wide-Mouth Frog to be read several times per day in my classroom. The children get the humor in this book, which is simple and straightforward. The book features Australian animals; some of them new to the children in my USA classroom, so it offers them a learning experience about a new place and it's unique animals, too. Talking about far away Australia, it was a great introduction to a world map for another lesson for the children to give them a meaningful view of the world map and a talk about other cultures and strange animals. The Big Wide-Mouth Frog is a delightful and through laughter a good teaching tool for new cognitive science and geographic knowledge, plus enjoying the sounds of the English language with the funny repetitive phrases for the children to memorize and read along with you. The Big Wide-Mouth Frog is part of my classroom library supplied by a grant I wrote to increase the number of books in my classroom several years ago.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Big Wide-Mouthed Frog is a lovely rhyming story with lots of repetition about a frog that eats flies. We follow him on his journey as he meets lots of different animals and asks them what they eat. Each time, he repeats that he is a big wide-mouthed frog who eats flies.

This is a great story to encourage children to make predictions on the story and encourage critical thinking skills to state what the animals might eat. Children will enjoy this story, especially the ending where the frog meets a hungry crocodile! The crocodile states that he eats big wide-mouthed frogs but thankfully, the frog quickly states that he is not a wide-mouthed frog but a small-mouthed frog and makes a quick getaway.

This is a great story to read to children of reception age (ages 4/5) they will enjoy the colourful pictures and the rhyming, repetition of this book.

[Heidi-Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book will be fun simply because I want to act as the big wide-mouthed frog. Especially near the end. It makes me smile and I think I could get the children to smile, too. And a couple of ways that I could try to work the book, too, for interest's sake. Good for a frog theme.

3/18/10 Great beginning book for the storytime. Both groups loved it. Well, I know the first did. It was so loud in the second group, I think half the group missed it, until the end.

3/25/10 Both downtown groups enjoyed this one. The smaller group meant they were less rowdy, though they did ask a couple of questions as we went along--which I had no problem with!

[Kathryn]

This is about a big wide-mouthed frog who asks different animals what they eat and what the frog eats. The frog meets a lot of new friends and then meets a crocodile. He soon finds out what a crocodile eats and learns to not have such a big-mouth anymore. This would be a great book to talk about the food-chain and what different animals eat. It can also be a great focus on wide-mouth frogs and what they eat and how they live.

[Luci P · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book would be really good for younger students. A frog travels the world and meets animals around the world. This would be a good book to teach students where different animals are located and what some traits are for each one. There is not a lot contextually, so it would not benefit older grades who already know animals and regions. The illustrations are very cute and very fitting for younger grades also.

[Maggie KutsBorg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good. I like the repetition and the unusual animals - the possum that eats blossoms was my favorite. It was a little too complex for my toddler crowd (and I had a bad cold that day) so I simplified the ending and some of the text, and it went pretty smoothly. I think this would be even better for a preschool storytime.

[Ina Silverness]

The Big Wide-Mouthed Frog is about a frog who travels the world and finds out what other animals are called and what types of food they eat. He surprised when he finds out what crocodiles eat!

The Big Wide-Mouthed Frog could be used in first or second grade. The book could be used in Science to learn about what different animals eat in order to survive.

[Andrea Tuura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wide Mouth Frog meets new animals in his habitat. He asks them all what animal they are and what they eat. He is having a great time, until he runs into crocodile...

This book could be used for fun or for teaching students about what different animals eat. It could tie into teaching about the food chain.

[Janet]

The Big Wide-mouthed Frog meets a series of animals and discusses what they eat with them, but then he comes across a Knobby Brown Log.

Age: 1+

Skill: Vocabulary (There are many adjectives in this story that describe the various animals the main character come across. This is a great story for discussion around the way the animals are described and why.)

[Sherry Thornberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a funny book with amazing, colorful pictures. I can see where young kids would think this book was hilarious. It also taught a little about what some animals eat. I always appreciate it when you can entertain a kid with a story book and teach them a little.

[Brent Rogers · Rating 1 out of 5]

The frog is the main character and he tells what he likes to eat and activities that he enjoys. It's an easy read for beginning readers and also a quality read aloud for younger children. Children will enjoy the silly pictures.