The Froggy Library

by Julie Fiveash

Spend your summer on Soggy Stump! This cozy, colorful, and amphibious graphic novel adventure draws inspiration from the author's background as a Diné librarian.

Anura is a young frog spending the summer back home with their grandmother. With some...er...gentle prodding from Grandma, they get a job working at the local library. It's about 11 minutes in when they're tasked with a big  create an archive that captures what makes Soggy Stump so special.

What the heck is even an archive?! And so begins a summer full of fry bread, weaving, zines, community gardens, manga, and (maybe) an answer to the question how do we preserve the knowledge, wisdom, and memories of the ones we love?

Inspired by Julie Fiveash's Diné background and career as a librarian, and infused throughout with the colors of the Southwest, The Froggy Library is a love letter to Native communities, summers with friends and family, and libraries everywhere.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Comics

256 pages, Paperback

Published April 14, 2026

Reviews

[Maia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anura, a teen frog, is spending their summer with Grandma Juniper in Soggy Stump, an indigenous community. Anura's love of books quickly turns into a summer job at the local library where they take on an ambitious task: helping build an archive that will capture the stories, skills, and memories of the Soggy Stump community! Anura starts heading out of the library to interview folks and figure out what this archive should hold- weaving, food, seeds, zines? Then a family tragedy strikes and suddenly the value of memories takes on a much more urgent and personal tone. This comic is so charming; the frog character designs delighted me, as did the little fact and explainer moments. At the heart of the story are several very nerdy teenagers becoming better friends and more connected community members, learning lessons that could serve us all. I want to spent more time in Soggy Stump!

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

i was expecting a lighthearted juvenile comic - but this has surprising substance and depth of emotion. love the NB froggy kiddo protagonist and the inclusion of navajo language & culture. rtc!!

[Zeta · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the kind of book I'd have read and reread as a kid until my copy fell apart. The art style is adorable, and the story is educational on a lot of different topics (gardens! zines! library archives and their importance to conserving knowledge and information!), written in an engaging way that's accessible for anyone to understand. Some panels made me laugh aloud, and a climactic scene towards the end had me trying not to cry while reading at work.

This is a great book, and one of my favorite debuts of the year.

[Abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

So freaking amusing and heartwarming! This warm colored, cutsey middle grade graphic novel follows Anura, a young frog, as he visits his grandmother for the summer. He gets a part time job at Soggy Stump’s tribal library where he starts developing a local archive. Readers will get to learn alongside Anura about archives, community gardens, weaving, zine making, and more. This adorable story about a frog working at a library encourages learning and getting involved in local community efforts. It also shows Anura grappling with heavier topics, including grieving the death of a family member and choosing how to preserve their memory. It’s so obvious that Julie Fiveash loves libraries, their community, and their Diné heritage. And that they enjoy getting the chance to share the things they love with people who are looking to learn. I loved this book!

Thanks to Edelweiss and Chronicle Books for providing me with an eARC!

[Kiku · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, emotional and funny tribute to community memory!!! My favs!!!!

[Owen]

This is a neat and heartfelt look at how remembering the past is tied to how we act in the present, and how art and culture and community are all tied together.

[HaileyAnne · Rating 5 out of 5]

An indigenous, nonbinary frog gets a summer job at a library to help with a community archive project. Need I say more?

But really, this was great. I loved how it highlighted a more unconventional kind of archive that included weavings, community gardens, zines, and more. I was expecting just a cute, fun read, but this was actually really educational, heartfelt, and inspiring.

[Ms. Yingling · Rating 3 out of 5]

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Anura enjoys visiting with his grandmother Juniper in Soggy Stump. He gets a job helping out at the local library, where he is trying to get a community archive started. He visits one of his grandmother's friends who weaves rugs, learns about seed libraries, and even works on zines. When his grandmother becomes ill, he wishes he had spent more time with her, but his cousin Flower offers some comfort when his grandmother passes away.

This graphic novel has some happy moments, but also addresses some deeper issue of family and cultural heritage. The illustrations are interesting; I liked seeing the different architectural styles on buildings in the desert. I would have liked it if the author had shared more specifics about Diné heritage, and was a little confused as to why the main character was a frog. (I guess it's a little like Bell's El Deafo, where she portrays herself as a rabbit.) Readers who enjoyed Sneve and Littlebird's
The Summer of the Bone Horses, Cohen's Two Tribes, or Mukwa's The Ribbon Skirt.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had high hopes but the overly didactic tone and minimal character work made this a slog at points. Most interactions between the MC and other characters came with a grand speech. It became tiring and the words didn't feel real. I felt disconnected because none of the characters acted like real people.

I did appreciate the more serious tone towards the end with the ailing grandmother. It brought some much needed grounded-ness to the story.

I was a bit confused by this graphic novel being targeted at a young audience while the MC is in high school. I thought with some slight changes to the story, Anura could have been closer in age to the readership and would have had more adult mentorship holding the different threads together.

The art was cute but I would have enjoyed more expressive facial expressions.

[Chris G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Young frog Anura is spending the summer in the high desert Native community with Grandmother. To keep busy, Anura takes a job at the local library. They love getting to help make graphic novel displays but the heart of the job involves creating an archive of Soggy Stump culture. Anura interviews a weaver, a local gardener, a comic book store owner, and in the process appreciates more of their culture, both in the past and how it is being expressed in the present. Who is responsible for the transmission of language and culture? How can old ideas be expressed in new ways? Plenty of serious topics along with some light-hearted moments. Attractive artwork, a lovely color palate. Review copy from the ever excellent folks at Levine Querido.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Knowledge is sacred, easily taken away or lost, and our Indigenous knowledge keepers know this better than anyone."

Despite the frogs on the cover, this is full of such cozy realness. The library is under pressure and Anura's grandmother's asthma is giving her trouble, and while these challenges are front and center, there is community support and sharing and compassion all over this story. Anura learns more about the library and the local community while spending a summer with their grandmother, the library and local experts work on sharing expertise with the wider community, and there is such an atmosphere of care in Soggy Stump.

The ending implied more installments, and I would love to see them.

[Grace Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better for 3-5 than 6-8: art style is younger than I would try to give to most middle schoolers (chibi-like). Reminds me of The Tea Dragon Society - strong theme of learning from elders before their knowledge is lost. Loved learning more about native culture too through the story. Very moving and touches on difficult topics very well.

[ebigeyl]

staff rec blurb, may 26: While spending summer on Soggy Stump reservation, Anura lands a job at the tribal library! Tasked to create an archive, they meet new froggy friends and find creative ways to preserve the nation's interests. Along the way, Anura learns that action and community care can be a form of archival work too. This cozy, colorful comic is the perfect way to kick off summer!

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Art super cute, about all my fave topics, and it made me cry?! Perfection!

[Emily Pencil · Rating 5 out of 5]

So cute and comforting!

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book so much!! Touching story with thought provoking ideas about what types of artifacts or information can effectively tell the story of a community. Also loved the zines section!!

[Heather Edwards · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an okay junior fiction graphic novel. Not my favorite as I became bored easily. I still finished it though.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t realize this children’s book would leave me sobbing about how much I miss my Nana!

[Natasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ending was great! Pacing was tough though. I picked it up and put it down a lot.