Advice for a Frog

by Alice Schertle, Norman Green (Illustrator)

Fourteen original poems combine with majestic, larger-than-life paintings in a lighthearted and thought-provoking collection that explains how young people can think of animals in a brand-new way.

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Nonfiction, Childrens

Library Binding

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Alice Schertle has written more than 40 books, mostly for children. A mother and former elementary school teacher, Ms. Schertle is a graduate of the University of Southern California. Many of her most famous works are poetic in nature, though she writes about a wide variety of topics.

Reviews

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m struggling to rate this book because the question of simply good or bad is not really relevant. This is not the book of animals you can read to a small child at bedtime. It is disturbing.

The poetry is not amazing, and it’s inconsistent from page to page. But i have to admit I have read it through three times in a row. It is a dark look at the circle of life, the dangers of poaching and pollution.

If you like this one I recommend Neil Gaiman’s The Dangerous Alphabet.

[Anne Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the last of four books I picked up today for my grandchildren from our library's used book store. It is in a large format and nicely illustrated. With poems (many free-verse) relating to the animals illustrated, I found the poems perhaps better suited for the adult readers while the illustrations will attract the young listeners. It will be a good book for both parents and children.

[Katie Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This perfect children’s poetry book introduces poems through various animals ranging from a crane to fruit bats to a black rhino. I liked mostly all of the poems in this book and I would definitely have this in my classroom library collection. One of my favorite poems was “Frilled Lizard.” Every poem is laid out differently on each page; there were even a few concrete poems. The illustrations overpower each page and I thought that the illustrations were beautifully painted and contained a lot of detail. For a classroom activity, I would read the poem aloud and then have the children guess what animal I am reading a poem about and then you could show them the pictures… just a teaching idea to make poetry in a classroom more exciting!

[Laura Brenneisen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title: Advice For A Frog By: Alice Schertle Paintings by: Norman Green Copyright: 1995 Number of Pages: 32 Lit Require: Poetry #3

This book is very informational about animals in the wild. The poems describe how the animals either attack frogs or just live in nature. This is advice for a frog to either be ware of the animal or be friendly with the animal. The paintings in this book are extravagant and caught my eye before the actual words did. I would use this book as a story time book for younger grades who are learning about animals and wild life, as well as predators vs. prey.

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most poetry collections, I didn't like all of the poems in this book so I wouldn't use it cover to cover in class. I also didn't like the illustrations that much either. I think actual photographs of the animal being described in the poem would have been better.

Some poems that I did like were "Fruit Bats," "Pangolin," "Advice for a frog," "Frilled Lizard," "Cheetah: The Race," and "Proboscis Monkey Ponders Man".

[Nicole Nunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the way this book examined rare animals. "Vocabulary Bookmarks" is a great activity to implement as they independently read about each animal. It increases their expressive and receptive vocabulary to have them collect interesting words and their definitions.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Introduces children through poems to some unusual animals.