FROGGY GOES TO BED

The effervescent Froggy is up to usual tricks in his eighth appearance (Froggy Plays Soccer, 1999, etc.). After a hard day of play, he may be “too pooped to pop.” But coming wide awake at the magic words “It's time for bed!,” he runs his patient mother through a string of delaying tactics, from a snack to a search for a “lost” toy. Each activity, of course, is accompanied by Froggy’s classic sound effects: lots of “flop, flop, flop[s],” with an occasional “zwoop” and a “glug, glug, glug” as well. Remkiewicz (Rabbit’s Pajama Party, 1999, etc.) depicts the tug-of-war in broadly drawn cartoon scenes, many of which feature mother pointing one way as the pajama-clad Froggy hops another—but it's all plainly more friendly ritual than battle. Mother at last sits down to read a bedtime story and, naturally, falls asleep, “snoring like a horse.” Froggy gives her a good-night nuzzle and drifts off. It's a jolly take on a theme as evergreen as the characters, though unlike Peggy Rathmann’s 10 Minutes Till Bedtime (1998), it may give Froggy’s younger fans some new bedtime maneuvers. (Picture book. 4-7)