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FROGGY WENT A-COURTIN’ by Gillian Tyler

FROGGY WENT A-COURTIN’

adapted by Gillian Tyler & illustrated by Gillian Tyler

Pub Date: Jan. 1st, 2005
ISBN: 0-7636-2306-7
Publisher: Candlewick

Tyler highlights the romance in this frilly version of the folk song, following Froggy and Miss Mousie from courtship to honeymoon in pale, finely brushed outdoor scenes captioned in elegant, if low-contrast, gold ink. A musical arrangement floats across the title page, and though the repeats in the following text are left out, on nearly every spread a tiny figure—usually one of the wedding guests, who tend to be insects sporting human heads and clad in antique dress—invites readers to insert a rhythmic “Um-hum! Um-hum!” after every line. In the end, the Cat breaks up the party without eating anyone, unlike the intruder in Marjorie Priceman’s version (2000), for instance, the interspecies lovers are off to France, and “Their wedding album is laid on the shelf— / If you want any more you can sing it yourself!” Um-hum. (source note) (Picture book. 6-8)