Fat Frogs on a Skinny Log

by Sara Riches

Glossy Scholastic softcover. This counting book with repetitive adjectives starts with one frog and goes up to 10 before the log turns over and all get dumped into the pond. "One fat frog sat on a skinny, slippery, slimy, slithery log" sets the repetitive pattern for all other pages.t

Genres: Picture Books, Counting, Mathematics, Animals, Childrens

32 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2000

About the author

http://www.scholastic.com.au/common/b...

Reviews

[Lynda Breithaupt-Muenzer]

Riches, Sara. Fat Frogs on a Skinny Log. (2000). This counting concept book attracts young children because of its many shades of colors and silly looking frogs. Each frog shows its own unique personality through its expressions and actions. Each page shows a number in a small circle and the number of fat frogs according to the number shown in that circle. A small, skinny frog is also featured in a circle on each page. That frog seems to be happily observing the frogs as they hop on a long log in the water. As another frog is added to the log, it gets more difficult for the frogs to balance and stay on the log. Adjectives are added with each frog that is added. I was surprised that many of the adjectives were words that very young children probably wouldn't know. I think they are delighted anyway just by the sounds of the words, like slithery. When eight of the adjectives-alliterations all start with s, it makes the reading even more entertaining. The before mentioned, small skinny frog, is the frog who causes the most laughter at the end of the story. I think most three to seven year olds would find this book to be funny and surprisingly believable. Target audience: 3-7 years old.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this book for its counting while using disruptive words. The pictures where fun, the descriptive words added to that fun. I liked that this book tied counting to vocabulary words. It uses a lot of adjectives when talking about the frogs while the book counts. This book was just great fun!

[Jennifer Parker · Rating 2 out of 5]

it's a counting book. What I did not care for was the challenging words that all started with the letter "s" and the age level is where kids would not understand what those words would mean.

[Spencer · Rating 2 out of 5]

2023

[Eadrinor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A counting book full of lots of adjectives. It is a bit of a tongue twister as you navigate the many frogs that climb on the log before it inevitably flips over.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for teaching adjectives. I like the use of different fonts for the different adjectives. Kids could write their own variation on this story using different adjectives (and/or different animals).
CCQ
-Skinny
If I'm skinny, am I very big or small? Wide or narrow?
-Slippery
If the floor is slippery, is it easy to fall? Is ice slippery? If I wear roller skates, is it easy to slip?
-Slimy
Are frogs slimy? Are slugs slimy? Are slimy things wet, or not wet? Are eggs slimy? Is slime sticky, or not sticky? Yucky or not yucky?
-Sludgy
Is sludgy water, full of mud, or clean? Thick or thin? Clean or dirty?
-Shaky
Can you shake your hands? Can you shake your head? Can you show my shaky with your whole body?

[Matthew Mealer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! My students loved this book! No only is it funny but it teachers the concept of counting and keeps the children's interest the whole time. I love this book too because it is great for teaching adjectives and it gives me a chance to act out the story my changing my voice and really getting some wordplay going.

[babyhippoface · Rating 2 out of 5]

10 fat frogs jump on a log one at a time. Sitting gets more and more precarious, until a small frog jumps on and upsets the whole bunch.

Good for addition 1-10, and for adjectives--as each new frog lands on the log we get one more adjective in the sentence.

[Jack Kirby and the X-man · Rating 2 out of 5]

This counting book is pottering along nicely with one more frog on the log, and one more adjective starting with 's' in the sentence... When suddenly there are no more relevant adjectives starting with 's'!

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read aloud to pre-kindergartners while observing. They loved the concept and counted until all fat frogs fell off the log. Tongue twisting alliterations made it challenging but fun to read to students.

[Jelisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think that this story would be great to implement in a pre-k classroom. The book teaches children about rote counting and also shows that each number gets that many frogs represented on the page. Seeing this visual helps them to develop number sense.

[Quinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

the kids had me read this twice even though i thought it was kinda useless. the adjectives are not common, and the kids just liked hearing "wobbly-bobbly"
also WHY DO ALL KIDS BOOKS HAVE TO HAVE BUTTS OR NAKED CHILDREN. EVERYONE STOP. I HAVE TO TEACH 7 YEAR OLDS.

[Hira · Rating 5 out of 5]

math

[Tricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of a counting book and kind of a fun tongue twister book. Not much story but very fun to read aloud.

[Madison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book to read to students that deals with counting. I would most likely read it to kindergartners. Kids would think it was funny with the frogs falling off the log.