I’m a rather obsessive type of person. When I find something that I like I have to get as much of it as I can. Not only does this pertain to food, TV and walking, it also pertains to authors.

I recently discovered Karma Wilson and managed to put no less than 5 of her books on hold at my library. I recently read A Frog in the Bog to my daycare children.


The Story

This is a very repetitive story of frog on a log in bog. We read about all that he eats as he grows and grows.

He flicks ONE tick
as it creeps up a stick.

ONE tick in the belly of a small, green frog
On a half-sunk log
In the middle of the bog.

Our hungry frog continues filling his stomach, and we watch him as he grows, until the log that he had been sitting on begins to rise. Then we see eyes and realize that the log he was sitting on wasn’t a log at all, but rather a Gator!

Of course this scares the frog and with his mouth wide open all that he had ingested escape.


The Illustrations

While the story is cute and held our attention, I think it is the wonderful illustrations that completes this book.

The watercolor illustrations are done in soft tones of greens, peach, browns and yellow. Each page is filled with muted shading around the borders of the main drawing in the center of the page making this book feel as if it is a lazy afternoon in the bog.

I love the little flourishes such as flies sitting at a building with a sign that says flyrodrome or the faces of the bugs in the frogs stomach. They look sad and forlorn at being his supper, and their expressive looks let us know how afraid they are.

Each page is filled with soft colors and an ever-growing frog. In the final pages as we realize the frog was sitting on a gator, his slow rise from the water and the large word gator add to fun of the page. Seeing his big eyes first gave me a chance to have the kids try and figure out it was. None of them were sure, the first time through but they all love to yell gator when we read this book.

The text is a very good size black font that is placed where it can be easily seen.


My Feelings

This is a very repetitive story, which can be a pro or a con. I don’t pull this book off of the shelf often because I grow tired of the tongue twisting reading. It is a fun book, but not one that I want to read too often. It rhymes and rhymes and rhymes...fun and frustrating at the same time.

There is a bit of counting in this book, using one tick, two fleas, three flies (oh my!) four slugs and then five snails as the food the frog devours as he grows and grows. The kids enjoyed how this text was repeated over and over and by the end of the book they knew which things the frog had eaten and laughed at how he was growing and growing.

I liked this book, but it isn’t my favorite Karma Wilson book. While it is recommended for 3 – 7 year olds, I do think that it is most appropriate for mature 4’s and older. My daycare children listened, but the amount of text in this story and the plot of it was a bit over their heads. They enjoyed it, but there are other books that they get much more involved in.


Nuts & Bolts

A Frog in the Bog is another book by Karma Wilson and was illustrated by Joan Rankin.

Margaret K. McElderry Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster published this 32 page hardcover book in 2003. It is recommended for children 3 – 7 years old.

The jacket price is $16.95 US and $26.50 CAN

ISBN: 0-689-84081-0


Recommended: Yes