Frog Went A-Courtin', by John Langstaff

Langstaff, John. Frog Went A-Courtin. Illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky. Harcout, Brace, Jovanovich, 1955. 32 pages. $7.00, ISBN 0-15-230214-X

AGE LEVEL
1 and 2 year-olds

GENRE
Traditional Literature (Folktale)

REVIEW
According to the foreword, this Caldecott Award winner is the retelling of a story which originated in Scotland over 400 years ago.  Frog decides he'd like to marry Miss Mouse, and so asks her for her hand.  Once she gets the approval of her Uncle Rat, the wedding is a go.  The last two-thirds of the story details the arrival of each of the wedding guests --  including a raccoon, a bumblebee, two ants, and a snake, among others -- and their contributions to the wedding day, such as fiddling, bringing cider, or laying the tablecloth, etc. Rojankovsky's ink and pencil illustrations depict the animals and insects in the story with accuracy and tenderness at the same time.  The artwork -- whether containing several colors in an image, or simply black and one other color -- is striking, and its style is suggestive of wood-cut printing in several instances.  Because the story rhymes, contains only two short lines per page and large illustrations, and is repetitive in its last two-thirds, it's a perfect choice for 1 and 2 year olds.

LIBRARY PROGRAMMING IDEAS
Here is a rhyme to accompany this book during toddler storytime:

          THE FROG

          A little green frog once lived in a pool,
          The sun was hot and the water cool.
          He sat in the pool the whole day long,
          And sung a dear little, queer little song,
          "Juaggery do, Quaggery dee,
          No one was ever so happy as me."