The Foolish Frog

by Pete Seeger, Charles Seeger, Miroslav Jágr (Illustrator)

Relates the chain of events that caused the frog to puff himself up until he exploded--all because of a song. Includes the melody.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals

40 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1973

About the author

Peter Seeger, better known as Pete Seeger, was a folk singer, political activist, and a key figure in the mid-20th century American folk music revival. As a member of the Weavers, he had a string of hits, including a 1949 recording of Leadbelly's "Goodnight Irene" that topped the charts for 13 weeks in 1950. However, his career as a mainstream performer was seriously curtailed by the Second Red Scare: he came under severe attack as a former member of the Communist Party of the United States of America. Later, he re-emerged on the public scene as a pioneer of protest music in the late 1950s and the 1960s.

He was perhaps best known as the author or co-author of the songs "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?", "If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)", and "Turn, Turn, Turn!", which have been recorded by many artists both in and outside the folk revival movement and are still sung throughout the world. "Flowers" was a hit recording for The Kingston Trio (1962), Marlene Dietrich, who recorded it in English, German and French (1962), and Johnny Rivers (1965). "If I Had a Hammer" was a hit for Peter, Paul & Mary (1962) and Trini Lopez (1963), while The Byrds popularized "Turn, Turn, Turn!" in the mid-1960s. Seeger was also widely credited with popularizing the traditional song "We Shall Overcome", which was recorded by Joan Baez and many other singer-activists, and became the publicly perceived anthem of the 1960s American Civil Rights Movement soon after musicologist Guy Carawan introduced it at the founding meeting of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960.

Reviews

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A farmer wanted words to go with the tune he was playing when he saw a frog sitting on the bank of the stream. The frog did something silly which gave the farmer the words for his song.The farmer went to the cornerstore to sing his song for people there.
This is a cumulative story, with customers in the store, children, farmers, wives, cows - and more - all getting involved.
It's a funny story.

[Marsha Valance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pete Seeger offers a charming picture book based on his folk song. It relates the chain of events that caused the frog to puff himself up until he explodes--all because of a song. Musical score included. A Reading Rainbow selection.

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story went on forever.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

A silly folk song written about a frog who while hopping stubbed his toe. This incident caused everyone and everything to react in a foolish way.

[khushi]

I almost cried when the frog exploded.

[Cg School · Rating 2 out of 5]

I honestly did not like this book because it is very childish and boring and has no point. The book was about a farmer who could not get words for his melody he wrote. Then he found a frog adn wrote abiut what he saw. I only thought that the music part of it was interesting

-CG Student

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my classics, thanks to my mother. I love hearing her read and sing this story. It's a funny one.

[James]

DVD Reading of Story