LEAPS AND BOUNCE

Changes are happening underwater—look closely and watch the fun as a clutch of eggs turns into leaping, bouncing frogs.

A cluster of eggs, “round and spotted, / polka-dotted,” waits beneath the water’s surface, and readers are invited to wonder what’s inside. The mystery doesn’t last long—in just a few page turns, wiggling, squiggling creatures emerge, exploring their underwater environs. Several gatefolds add to the fun, as the changes literally unfold before readers’ eyes. Tadpoles zip and zap, splish and splash across the page, smiling and leaping out of the water. But “changes come to all who grow,” and soon the young amphibians sprout legs. In almost no time, they become “leaping, peeping, hopping, bopping” frogs! As in their charming Rooting for You (2014), Hood’s energetic rhyming text is joyfully matched with Cordell’s humorous illustrations. The wordplay is delightful, full of internal rhymes and bouncing rhythms. Interestingly, Hood never names the stages of frog development but instead encourages readers to notice the changes at each step. Cordell’s smiling frogs, with their goggling eyes, are very similar to his loving, happy mama and baby frog in Lauren Thompson’s Leap Back Home to Me (2011). Cheerful tadpoles and frogs are full of movement, clearly loving life in the pond.

The life cycle of a frog becomes a joyful, energetic celebration of growing up.