Picture book review: I Don't Want to Be a Frog (story by Dev Petty, illustrations by Mike Boldt) #Doubleday #Books for Young Readers

I Don't Want to Be a Frog

story by Dev Petty, illustrations by Mike Boldt  

Hardcover, 32 pages

Published February 10th 2015 by Doubleday Books for Young Readers

Fans of Mo Willems’s Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! and Jon Klassen’s I Want My Hat Back will love meeting this willful young frog with a serious identity crisis. 

Frog wants to be anything but a slimy, wet frog. A cat, perhaps. Or a rabbit. An owl? But when a hungry wolf arrives—a wolf who HATES eating frogs—our hero decides that maybe being himself isn’t so bad after all. In this very silly story with a sly message, told in hilarious dialogue between a feisty young frog and his heard-it-all-before father, young readers will identify with little Frog’s desire to be something different, while laughing along at his stubborn yet endearing schemes to prove himself right.

Parents, caregivers and guardians, or anyone who deals with kids on a regular basis, will truly get and appreciate this story. I Don't Want to Be a Frog by Dev Petty nails the oftentimes comical conversations we have with children, especially when they get something in their heads and nothing will make them change their minds, nothing except for some common sense. Of course, that resolution will be made much later on, after much discussion and/or argument. 

The young frog doesn't want to be a frog, he wants to be something else. Like a cat or rabbit or maybe an owl. His father patiently explains why he can't be this or that with much hilarity. This running dialogue gives this picture book a refreshing realism and makes it a ton of fun to read out loud. Mike Boldt's big, colorful illustrations are sure to delight the little 'frogs' in our lives as we read this delightfully enchanting and funny story. Already a classic. I loved it!

Rating: 5 of 5

Cover comment: Hilarious

Book source: Library