The Frog in the Pond

by Wil Mara, Cheryl Mendenhall (Illustrator)

When a boy finds a frog down by the pond, he catches it and puts it in a cage, but the frog does not enjoy captivity, in this story told using opposites.

Genres: Childrens, Animals

32 pages, Library Binding

First published March 1, 2007

About the author

Wil Mara has worked as an author for over 34 years and currently has more than 325 books in print. He has written both fiction and nonfiction, for children and adults. His books have won multiple awards, reached bestseller lists, earned excellent reviews, and been translated into more than a dozen languages. 2005’s Wave won the New Jersey Notable Book Award, and 2012’s The Gemini Virus remained on Amazon’s list of ‘Ten Bestseller Medical Thrillers’ for 14 consecutive weeks. The most recent novel in his disaster series, Fallout, was nominated for the Edgar Award for Novel of the Year. And his children’s nonfiction publications have won countless awards and terrific reviews in all the leading trade journals, including Booklist, School Library Journal, Kirkus, and others.

Much of his work for children has been nonfiction for the school-library market. He also ghostwrote five of the popular ‘Boxcar Children’ mysteries. And starting in 2019, Rosen Publishing released the first of his new ‘Twisted’ series, which has been described as “Twilight Zones for kids.” It became the most pre-ordered fiction series in the company’s history. The first ‘Twisted’ book, The Videomaniac, was released on January 1 and sold through its first printing in less than a month. The second, House of a Million Rooms, was released on March 1 and, just a few weeks later, was chosen as a Main Selection Title by the Junior Library Guild.

Wil was also an editor, administrator, and executive inside the industry for over 20 years, working for such houses as Scholastic, McGraw-Hill, Macmillan, and Prentice-Hall until turning to fulltime writing in 2005. He is an associate member of the NJASL and an executive member of the Board of Directors for the New Jersey Center for the Book, which is an affiliate of the US Library of Congress. He is also the vice president of the Literary Alliance of New Jersey, the host of the ‘Voice of American Libraries’ podcast, and the 2019 recipient of the Literary Lion of New Jersey Award, whose past winners include Gus Friedrich, Dean Emeritus of Rutgers University, and Joyce Carol Oates, National Book Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist.

Wil is also an experienced speaker, presenter, and voice artist, having visited more than 300 schools and other institutions, and done the audio readings for many books, including his 2012 thriller The Gemini Virus. He continues to speak to audiences across the country (including via video) and do voice work as his writing schedule permits.

Reviews

[Jaylin Brooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

A boy finds a frog in a pond and takes him home to keep as a pet, but the frog will not eat and gets very sad. So the boy takes him back to the pond and let's him go.

[Inara · Rating 4 out of 5]

From Inara's Mom: This book provided an important, well-received message to my little frog-lover; frogs will not be happy if you take them home.

[Jackie316 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short & sweet. A nice story about releasing animals back to the wild where they can flourish & interact with others of their kind with more room instead of keeping them in a little cage.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Rookie Reader book, I was pleasantly surprised that my four-year-old was able to read most of this book on his own!