Catherine Carvell's Blog, page 4
February 16, 2014
Top ten frog adaptations
All animals adapt to survive in the wild, and frogs are no exception. Here is a list of the top ten physical adaptations that enable frogs to thrive in wetlands.
1. Legs: Frogs have very powerful back legs and webbed feet that help them swim and jump.
Some frogs even use their legs to dig, or burrow underground for hibernating. Certain frogs can jump up to 20 times their own body length in a single bound.
2. Skin: Frogs can breathe though their skin so they can stay underwater as long as they want.
3. Skin: Frogs don’t drink water through their mouths at all, instead they soak it into their bodies through their skin.
4. Skin: Frog skin is often camouflaged to hide from predators. Some frogs can change the colour of their skin depending on its surroundings.
5. Skin: Some frogs secrete poison through their skin. Many of the more easily visible, brightly colored tropical frogs are colored in this way to warn predators that they are poisonous.
6. Croaks: Frogs attract each other for mating with their croak. Each frog species has a distinct croak. They have vocal sacs, which fill with air, and can amplify the sound up to a mile away.
7. Tongue: When a frog spots a tasty meal, it flicks out its long, sticky tongue. The tongue wraps around the meal/insect and pulls it back into the frog’s mouth. Unlike humans, a frog’s tongue is not attached to the back of its mouth. Instead it is attached to the front, enabling the frog to stick its tongue out much further.
8. Teeth: Frogs do have teeth, but they are small and not good for chewing. Instead, 
frogs use their teeth to hold their prey in their mouths until they are ready to swallow.
9. Eyes: Frogs swallow using their eyes. Its eyes retract into its head and push the food down its throat. Frog’ eyes are on top of their heads so when they swim close to the surface of the water, only their eyes are exposed. This way, they can quickly spot danger before danger spots them.
10. Eyes: Frogs can see forwards, sideways and upwards all at the same time and never close their eyes, even when they sleep. They even have a third eyelid which is see-through and protects the frog’s sensitive eyes when it is under water.
February 13, 2014
Australian International School Singapore
Today I was lucky enough to be invited to talk to the kids of 4F and 3D at the Australian 
International School in Singapore.
The kids were so friendly, imaginative, attentive and funny that I forgot about being nervous (these were my first ever author talks) and I really enjoyed myself. Thanks kids for being such a cool crowd!
We talked about how I came up with some of the characters in Darcy Moon and the deep-fried frogs, including Darcy’s completely embarrassing parents. That led to a discussion about the most embarrassing things a parent could do. Some of the more hilarious suggestions were;
Mum says in a loud sing-song voice in public, “Ooh, my cutie-pie daaarling I love you so much my little smoochy-poo.”
Dad calls out at school, “Johnny, did you remember to wear underpants today?”
Mum uses the boys toilet by mistake *face palm embarrassment*
They show naked baby photos to all your friends and say, “Wasn’t he such a chubby little sweety-pie.”
It would be super embarrassing if your parents were toads. (Haha – this is one of my favourites)
Everyone at school wears red and blue but YOUR mum makes you wear PINK and says, “But you look so pretty, daaarling.” Blah!
Of course, none of the parents from 3D and 4F would EVER do these things, right?
The fun didn’t stop there though. Now it was time for the kids to create their very own character using this little fella’ as inspiration.
Both classes had so many creative ideas about what their class alligator was like, and I was amazed how (from the same picture) they ended up with two such very different personalities.
4F’s Alligator
Boy or girl: Boy
Name: Snappy Steve Douglas Jnr
Age: 5 years old
Personality traits: He is an obnoxious, lazy, sour-puss, grumpy-bum alligator who is also a little mysterious.
What does he do for a job: He is a banker, but he banks fish instead of money because alligators don’t use money.
What does he do in his spare time: He teaches jazz, ballet and hip hop dancing and likes to play minecraft.
3D’s Alligator
Boy or girl: Boy
Age: 1 year old
Name: Lachie the Alligator (or maybe it’s Locky because his jaws lock on food and don’t let go)
Personality Traits: He is forgetful, stubborn, dumb, mindless and a bit of a show-off who likes to dress up as a PUNK.
What does he do in his spare time: He sits on the couch, sleeps a lot and EATS DONUTS!
My thoughts about these two alligators
I wonder if these alligators would get along?
I wonder what what would happen if Snappy Steve Douglas Jnr tried to convince Lachie the Alligator to stop eating donuts and get up off the couch to do a ballet class.
Would he end up with a donut in the face?
You know what? If you put these two characters in a story together I’m pretty sure there might be some pretty full-on CONFLICT, and you know what that means?
It means we have the beginnings of a really, really good story!
Thanks 4F and 3D. You were SO clever and creative. I had a fantastic time and I hope you did too.
February 11, 2014
First froggy comic strip called…..erm…um?
Hey everybody, so here’s my first froggy related comic strip! I hope you like it. I don’t have a name for it yet though so if anyone has any suggestions let me know (if it’s too small on your screen just click on it to get a larger view)
February 9, 2014
The Desert Rain Frog
Not all frogs live near water. In fact some frogs, like this one, live where there’s no water at all.
Yes I agree, this may be the cutest frog in the world!
Just like a squeaky baby toy.
But the Desert Rain Frog, which is found along the western coast of Namibia and South Africa, is currently listed as vulnerable due to habitat loss – which is one step away from being endangered and that is really not good at all.
Desert rain frog status
The Desert Rain Frog has no tadpole stage and survives by burrowing under the sand to find moisture. It has a spherical body (a clever adaptation which means it retains water for longer) and feet built for digging.
I love this frog! Do you?
Now it’s time to watch that video again. So awesome, right?!
February 6, 2014
Recycling Plastics
Plastic is light and durable, can be easily coloured and is one of the most commonly used materials today.
It is used in food packaging, toys, furniture, buttons, water hoses, credit cards, light switches, computer keyboards and even our clothes!
Even polyester (a kind of fabric) is made from plastic.
In fact, you need 25 two litre plastic bottles to make one adult polyester jacket!
Plastic bottles are used to package liquids – juice, milk, shampoo, cooking oil, fizzy drinks and more.
It is also used to make plastic bags, which people use for grocery shopping.
Did you know?
Shoppers use ONE TRILLION plastic bags worldwide per year?
Australians alone use 10 MILLION plastic bags EVERY DAY.
Only 3% of Australian plastic bags are recycled.
All plastic bottles (except for the brown ones used to contain beer) are recyclable.
The energy saved by recycling one plastic drink bottle will power a light globe for 6 hours or a computer for 25 minutes.
It is estimated that it takes 400 to 1000 years or more for plastic to degrade.
One piece of plastic can kill many animals. If one animal eats a plastic bag, that animal dies and decomposes, releasing the bag back into the environment.
Recycled plastic bottles can be made into all sorts of new things, including fleece clothing, garden furniture, seed trays, the fiber filling for doonas and sleeping bags, drain pipes, compost bins, and of course, new bottles.
What can we do?
Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
Use reusable cloth bags at the supermarket.
Where possible, buy glass instead of plastic.
To reduce harm to animals, cut the rings from bottle necks and six-pack holders before you dispose of them.
Plastic bags, bin liners, and cling wrap are not recyclable. However, many Australian supermarkets have special plastic bag recycling bins (ask at customer service).
If you cannot find a supermarket that will accept your plastic bags for recycling, your household garbage bin is the next best place to dispose of them.
When placing plastic bags into household garbage, reuse them as the garbage bag itself, and tie the tops together to prevent them blowing away.
When buying plastic, look for its identification code to identify the type of resin used.
Here are some common products you will find for each type of plastic:
PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) – soft drink and fruit juice bottles
HDPE (High-density polyethylene) – milk bottles or shampoo containers
PVC (Polyvinyl chloride or plasticised polyvinyl chloride) – cordial, juice or squeeze bottles
LDPE (Low density polyethylene) – garbage bags and bins
PP (Polypropylene) – ice cream containers, take-away food containers and lunch boxes
PS (Polystyrene) – yoghurt containers, plastic cutlery, foam hot drink cups
Other – all other plastics, including acrylic and nylon
Your local council may only be able to recycle certain types through your kerbside recycling program. In Australia, most areas recycle plastics labelled 1, 2, and 3, although many councils are now extending their programs to include those labelled 4 through 7. Check with your council for details.
Make sure you are aware about what plastics can be recycled and only put these in your recycling bins. Contamination of recyclables is a problem because it raises the costs for collectors, recyclers and the community.
When preparing your plastics for recycling;
Take off lids.Wash thoroughly (conserving water).
Squash flat, so it takes up less space.
February 4, 2014
Who’s this Michael guy anyway – plus first froggy drawing!
It’s Wednesday and Wednesday is the day I hijack Darcy Moon Books from Catherine’s hands (it’s tricky, I have to distract her with a chocolate bar or something) and talk about the pictures that you will find in Darcy Moon and the deep-fried frogs! My name is Michael Scott Parkinson (phew! What a mouthful! You can call me Michael for short. Or Mikey. Or Sir Michael, Michael the great, whatever you like really. Rupert. Englebert. Really, I’m not fussy.) and I was the guy who did the illustrations for the book. Yay me!
Each week I’m going to post something like ..hmnn, I dont know..how to draw Darcy Moon and Jumpy or maybe I’ll show you what the characters used to look like when I first started drawing them? Maybe I’ll even be able to post a video showing you how I go about drawing as I do it all on the computer – no paper, people! I even have some frog related comic strips that I’m going to post real soon. I know, I know, pretty exciting.
But you know what I’m looking forward to the most! You know what I can’t sleep properly at night ‘cos I’m just bursting at the seams about? Can you guess? Go on, give it a try! I’ll wait. No? Ok, I’ll tell you. I cannot WAIT until we start getting some drawings of Darcy Moon and Jumpy and Wizen from the kids who have read this book. And boy oh boy, do I want some! I want to collect drawings of frogs by the truckload! I want the mailman to have to back a dumptruck up to my house and I want to not even be able to see my mailbox…actually, forget that, I don’t even want to be able to see my HOUSE because it’s covered with AWESOME drawings of frogs and Darcys and tortoises and other stuff! Don’t let me down everybody!
For now, though, let’s look at the very first drawing I did when I was called upon to illustrate the tale of the heroic amphibian Jumpy R. Swigglebottom the Third, esquire (I made that up, I don’t think that’s his last name, I’ll have to check with Catherine). Catherine must have sensed that I could draw an AWESOME frog and asked me if I could draw her book. BUT she had to know I’d get her characters JUST right so I drew this for her. She loved it and said not to change a SINGLE THING about it. “Seriously!” she said “ It has to look EXACTLY like this!”
But…it looked kind of different to how Jumpy actually turned out. Which is more like this.
Whoops. Sorry Catherine. That’s OK though, we’re still buds! Right Catherine? Oh, she’s still eating her chocolate bar, we’ll leave her in peace. She’s had a busy week.
Stay tuned – same frog-time, same frog-channel next week for the first comic strip starring the frogs of the swamp!
-Your friendly neighbourhood Michael
