There's a Frog in My Throat!: 440 Animal Sayings A Little Bird Told Me

by Pat Street, Loreen Leedy (Illustrator)

Have you heard the buzz? 
 
Kids book experts Pat Street and Loreen Leedy worked like dogs (that is, they worked very hard) to pull a rabbit out of a hat (do something amazing) and create this hilarious, comprehensive introduction to similes, metaphors, and idioms. 
 
Pairing hilariously literal illustrations—like a duck in scrubs for a quack , or a hen's chicken scratch handwriting—with simple explanations of the expressions, There's a Frog In My Throat! introduces more than four hundred common sayings, and puts them into easy-to-understand context. Each page is packed with cartoonish illustrations and intriguing expressions.
 
Readers will be drawn like a moth to a flame to this fascinating book, equal parts reference and entertainment.  Perfect for readers starting to study figurative language and use it in their own writings, or for English language learners of all ages, this picture book is the bee's knees—it's terrific!
 

For more expressive, idiomatic sayings, check out Pat Street's You're Pulling My Leg! , too—quick as a bunny!

An ALA Notable Book
A Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year

Genres: Picture Books, Nonfiction, Childrens, Animals, School, Language, Education

48 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2003

Reviews

[Adam Barrett]

Our language is completely filled with idioms! While teachings these to my students, this book was invaluable. There are so many to choose from here.

[Jessica Tracy]

It's not a bad book, I like the idea of expressions and sayings with their plain translations. I think it is just super busy to look at. I get a little overwhelmed by all the images, crazy layout and text. This would be an okay library book, but not one I'd love to own.

[Kylee]

Fun book for kids to read and learn about similes, metaphors, idioms, and proverbs.

[Haley Kilgour]

Cute book. Don’t give this to a kid and not expect them to use every single phrase.

[Nanor & Co.]

'It's the bee's knees!'

[Nancy]

There’s a Frog in My Throat!: 440 Animal Sayings a Little Bird Told Me (2003) is written by Loreen Leedy and Pat Street and illustrated by Loreen Leedy (P). The title says a lot about this nonfiction book of imaginative and amusing sayings about animals with humorous and colorful artwork . Along with each saying is the meaning, for example, “Let’s talk turkey. (Let’s talk business.)” or “It’s raining cats and dogs. (It’s raining hard.)” This is an enjoyable book and excellent resource that explores language. It is ideal for an integrated language arts curriculum or to just read for laughter and enjoyment.

[Lindsey]

There is absolutely no story to this book. This is just a book of expressions and what a fabulous collection of them too! I love the way they are organized and the illustrations that accompany every saying. There were some that I wasn't familiar with, but most of them are very common. Some of my favorites were:

It is raining cats and dogs.
Cat got your tongue
Don't rat on me.
Bull-headed.
I'm so hungry I could eat a whale.
Free as a bird.
Wing it.
First in pecking order.
Hold your horses.

A great collection that should be read selectively, not cover to cover.

[elizabeth sawyer]

This is just one of those funny, silly well illustrated picture books to enjoy in a library at home/school. Not a book to read front to back, but rather to pick it up and enjoy just looking through randomly. It covers 440 different sayings specific to animals like - It there a monkey wrench into our plans; I have a tiger by the tail, etc. It provides a very basic definition/explanation for the saying.

[Hope Johnson]

I love this book. As a teacher your goal is to enrich your children vocabulary and help them use new and exciting words in their writing. This book will help them do just that, this book opens up a whole different language for kids to use and experiment with. It is full of things like "does the cat got your tongue?" The kids will love it.

[H Wells Lucas]

A book filled with 440 English sayings that are all about animals. “See ya later, alligator.” I feel as though this
book should be mandatory for all students to rent/buy for either the fourth or fifth grade year.

[Alice]

This book is a ton of fun.It took to different settings to read. We did it as sort of a quiz between librarians. It was a riot. Now we need a book about where the sayings come from? (Some are obvious...some aren't)

Really fun book. We all loved it!!!

[Jen]

This was an excellent book for my son when he was 5-7 years old. He was a very literal child and the colorful illustrations that explained various idioms and sayings really appealed to him, helped him to incorporate that type of phrase in his language.

[Kelly]

Six grouped themes of animal idioms. Entertaining and clever drawings as well as explanations for idioms, similes, metaphors, and proverbs. If you want to encourage the broad study of languaging with your students, this is a great book.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer]

Use this with some of Peggy Parish's Amelia Bedelia books.

[DixieJo]

My kids love kookie things like this!

[Ruth Ann]

A book of 440 animal idioms organized by the type of animal. Each idiom is illustrated and the actual meaning of the idiom is in a smaller font.

[Mercy]

idioms

[Kellee Moye]

A great book of animal sayings (idioms) with fun illustrations. A wonderful resource for the classroom.

[Suzi Sherman]

Wonderful idioms

[Shakia Mason]

great, is a awsome book.

[Christine]

Children have no doubt heard sayings, metaphors and idioms that refer to animals. This book explores several of them and explains what they mean. More fitting for the derivational relations stage.

[Kt Leung]

I stole this book from my little brother and I don't regret it

[Beverly]

A fun and amusing read; with clever and fun collage illustrations. I even ran across a few idioms that were new to me, an avid reader.

[Kelly]

My 9 year old asked me what the strangest saying was so I got this book. It is comically done with the explanations right under the saying. We enjoyed reading this.

[Rachel]

I enjoyed it but it was really difficult for the children to understand

[Tommy Schlosser]

I had heard most of them but it was super fun discussing with the kids!

[Erin Banet]

Great funny sayings! Some I had never heard of though