999 Frogs Wake Up

by Ken Kimura, Yasunari Murakami (Illustrator)

Wake up—it’s springtime in the swamp! As 999 young frogs awaken, they panic to find that all of the other animals are still asleep. First they wake the biggest frog… then the tortoise, the lizard, and the ladybugs. But when they hop down a hole and all pull together, they find someone they don’t want to wake—a big, long snake. Don’t wake him up! Luckily for the frogs, the tortoise carefully carries him away.

Ken Kimura and Yasunari Murakami are back again in this delightful tale about frogs and friendship!

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Storytime, Childrens, Fiction, Nature, Mathematics

48 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

In Japanese: 木村研

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still cute, but not as good as the first book.

[Cosette · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting case a reverse psychology

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an average children's book with fairly unique art. The story was enough to keep my near 4-year-old interested but I won't be promoting this one at bed time. While I learned tonight that this is the middle book of a trilogy, it stands on its own just fine. The basic story is that the 999 frogs go around waking up other sleeping animals (a turtle, a lizard and some lady bugs) before wandering into danger with a snake in a hole. Some clever words by Mama Frog and some quick thinking by mr. Turtle and they are safe again.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would be a great book for little kids who like animal stories and reptiles. Many books are about going to sleep and bedtime, but this one takes a different direction by trying to wake up sleeping animals. I chuckled a few times during the reading especially while trying to imagine the mother frog counting to 999, more than once. This book is great for a reader who 'likes to do voices', lots of opportunities for exaggerated sleeping noises.

[Arminzerella · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's spring and Mama frog is busy counting her 999 froglets as they pop up out of the warm ground. Once they are all accounted for, they go about waking up everyone else they can find - turtle, lizard, ladybugs. When they wake up a snake, though, there's some excitement - snakes EAT froglets. But Mama convinces the snake to keep on napping, and turtle carries it far away from the frogs. The cover is quite eye-catching - froglets everywhere! But the contents are somewhat underwhelming.

[Nikki · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute illustrations but not much more to recommend this simple book. There's not much to the story, and opportunities to use even basic, simple nature words are skipped in favor of repetition of plain, unlively vocabulary. The idea of animals waking each other in springtime is nice, and the snake bit is slightly funny, but there are many better renditions of this theme.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mother Frog and 998 froglets wake up in the spring, but there are supposed to be 999. Ah, Big Brother is still asleep. After waking up Big Brother, the froglets decide waking people up is fun. All goes well until they accidentally awake Snake, who wants to eat them.

Luckily, Mother Frog gets Snake back to sleep and Turtle takes Snake away.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's springtime and 998 froglets wake up. Who's missing? Their older brother! Together, they start waking up other creatures who have been hibernating all winter. When they accidentally wake up a hungry snake, Mother Frog lulls it back to sleep and a turtle carries it elsewhere. My four-year-old loved that there was such a large number of frogs in this book.

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book for Spring, frogs or even hibernation. A little long for fidgety preschoolers but if you make the snoring sounds and then have them make the same sounds you can keep their attention.

[Balasubramanian Murugan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its funny, My kids liked it a lot. We never read the 1st book though still, we liked this one.

[Evelyn Song · Rating 5 out of 5]

两栖爬行动物冬眠初步了解

[Lola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute little frogs. The illustrations are perfect and sweet.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adorable!! Good for a storytime.

[Raquel Pilar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frogs waking up everybody because it's spring and mother frog always count 998 frogs.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny I stayed awake for the whole book!

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love reading this book outloud. So many opportunities for quiet and loud voices, many places to pause and ask what's going to happen next. Pairs really well with the song "Little White Duck".

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cute book with simple yet engaging illustrations. A great option for teaching preschoolers about hibernation.

[Shay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got this from the library from a display of books about Spring. Kiddo loved it. Thought the ending was funny.

[KaitandMaddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This weaves in the signs of spring nicely. Kait predicted the snake at the end.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute book with all my favorite things....frogs, lizards, ladybugs, turtles and a polka dot snake. Perfect for reading to young children.

[Ms. Madalyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a smidge long to read for storytime but could maybe be read if you skipped a couple of the animals that they wake up.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bright colorful cartoony illustrations accompany this story of baby frogs waking everyone up for spring.
Fun!

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wake up for spring, everyone!

[Mari Sweet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cómo en la serie de Disney, hermanas por casualidad, amigas por elección, que linda historia de ranitas, en especial antes de ir a dormir ☺️

[Jaimee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone LOVED the ending!

[Samuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely not as good as 999 tadpoles.

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute. Love the drawings.

[Teresa Bateman · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's spring, and Mother Frog is counting her 99 froglets who should be waking up from the muck. But there are only 98. Oh no! Following snoring reveals her missing froglet as well as other sleeping animals who need to be awakened--a turtle, a lizard, and ladybugs. Their final find, however, is dangerous--a snake! They don't want him awake. He thinks they are dinner. Careful cooperation with their newly awoken friends removes the danger and now it's time to enjoy spring...or a good nap. Originally published in Japan, this is a gently sweet story that would tie in nicely with springtime lessons. Yasunari Murakami's mischievous, bright illustrations suit the text well and are big and bold enough for group sharing. A lovely effort.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the sequel to a book that I've never read. I picked it up because of the cover. In it, a large frog leads an army of brothers and sisters in an effort to wake the world up for the beginning of spring. Everything goes swimmingly, pun totally intended, until they attempt to wake one animal sleeping in a den that turns out to be hungry snake. Luckily, the mother frog is able to put the snake back to sleep and a friendly turtle carries the snake away to the forest as a thanks for waking him up in time for spring. It's a nice story. The pictures if lots of frogs are amusing. Would be a fun read with a younger audience.

[Marjorie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Given To Me For An Honest Review


999 Frogs Wake Up by Ken Kimura is a book for every child's bookshelf. It is about the frogs that plan to wake everyone up for spring. A hungry snake wakes up but the frogs assure him that he can sleep as long as he wants. Your child(ren) will laugh and enjoy this book. They will love the humor that it has. The illustrations and bright and clear. If you wish for a great book that your child will love or you classroom will enjoy this is the book. I gave it 5 stars but it should have more. I highly recommend it to everyone and anyone with a child or works with children.