SEVEN FROGGIES WENT TO SCHOOL

by Kate Duke ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 29, 1985

If Duke (The Guinea Pig ABC, Guinea Pigs Far and Near) draws seven froggies doing anything, the pictures are bound to be entertaining; but this rhyming tale of the froggies' education in frog-hood (based, we're told, on a lullaby handed down in the family) hasn't the conceptual ‚clat, or the masterly characterization, of her previous entries. You'll enjoy seeing the seven frog-scholars leap from rock to rock with their heads buried in books. . . and then tumble head-over-heels at the feet of stern pedagogue Master Bullfrog, whatever the words (""First we study, then we play./That is how to keep the rule. . . when we froggies go to school""). And the froggies learning to dive and swim, to beware of cats and birds, ""boys with sticks"" and ""the wily muskrat's tricks""--to say nothing of riding a newt and playing the flute--allows for some lively, risible antics. But antics they remain, to the point when the graduate-scholars (now in top hats and green tails) join the teacher on his log, to instruct other little frogs. Duke's talent does raise this over other, merely-hectic elaborations of traditional rhymes (like those of Tracey Pearson). Yet for someone of her creative imagination, it's marking time. JLG.

Pub Date: March 29, 1985

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1985

Categories: CHILDREN'S