The Frog House

by Mark Taylor, Barbara Garrison (Illustrator)

When an apple-shaped birdhouse is placed in the tree, a curious frog thinks that it may be a home meant just for him and so moves in, but other animals have the same idea and soon the frog has a whole cast of interesting visitors dropping on by his unique abode.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 8, 2004

Reviews

[Yolanda Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story of a frog setting up a home in a bird house, and his encounters with other curious wildlife.

[Gael Riggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Closer to a 4 than a 3 out of 5 stars. Illustrations are absolutely darling 80% of the time. Wish the writing style was consistent. And only 1 error grammatically in my opinion. I believe the second sentence on the first page could have been written in a better way, to better teach proper writing techniques to young readers.

None the less, still very much enjoyed this book.

[Leaflet · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustrations far outshine the story.

[Camila Hiciano · Rating 4 out of 5]

A simple and pleasant read. The illustrations are what drew me in. Definitely a perfect bedtime story.

[Brianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Illustrated by Barbara Garrison and written by Mark Taylor, the Frog House depicts a story about a family that places a birdhouse in the tree. As the story goes, the birdhouse was very special, it had been made to look just like a big, ripe red apple. Beautiful illustrations show a little frog, watching the placement of the apple tree house from afar.

"The frog had seen birds move into birdhouses but never into a wooden apple. The people must have put this apple here just for me, he thought. It must be a frog house."

It's easy to see this book used to support bird- house making in an educational setting, at the library, or at home. A whimsical story with wonderful read-aloud potential for children and young adults.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

When a father and son put a beautiful wooden apple birdhouse in the tree... a surprising inhabitant takes up residence and makes it his own. Many different woodland animals are surprised when they find out who is in the birdhouse.

Used for "Feathered Friends" storytime-October, 2009.

Used for "April is National Frog Month!" storytime: April, 2012.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't care for the squirrels explaining that squirrels eat nuts, cats explaining that cats eat birds, etc. A little too simple. Story was a tad boring too. My 6-month-old wasn't drawn to the dark colors of the abstract-seeming artwork.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on a real incident from his childhood, the author expands the event into a fictionalized story of what may have happened when a tree frog moves into a bird house shaped like an apple, and hung in a tree.

[Tauna Garvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book about a frog living in and wooden apple house were he meets a bunch of hungry animals that thought his apple house was real and wanted to eat it.

[Luann Kern · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wonderful illustrations using the collagraphs technique. Lovely.

[Inara · Rating 4 out of 5]

From Inara's mom: This story engaged Inara from the moment the frog came on scene. She liked learning about the different birds and animals who visited the frog's house.

[Deja Bertucci]

frogs, home, birds, trees