A Boy, a Dog, a Frog, and a Friend

A Boy, a Dog and a Frog #3

by Mercer Mayer, Marianna Mayer (Illustrator)

First came a boy and his dog. Then they found a frog. Can a new turtle be a good friend too?

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Fiction, Dogs, Classics, Friendship

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Mercer Mayer is an American children's author and illustrator. He has published over 300 books, using a wide range of illustrative styles. Mayer is best known for his Little Critter and Little Monster series of books.

Reviews

[Lynn Montgomery · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book when I was younger. I re-read it with my two daughters. I absolutely loved their interpretation of this book. I will forever recommend this to very young kids 📚 💖

[Stephanie Yi-Lan · Rating 5 out of 5]

"A Boy, A Dog, A Frog, and a Friend" is a wordless picture book and depicts the adventures of a boy, a dog, a frog, and their encounters with a new friend, a turtle. This is the third "boy, dog, and frog" book, and features the three titular characters in an already established relationship. The book begins with the three characters fishing by a body of water, until the boy's fishing rod is stolen by a turtle. The three characters chase after the turtle, but the turtle bites the dog. How will the boy, dog, and frog approach this new character?

I was drawn to this book because its pictures are so incredibly expressive and evoke such humor without the help of any text whatsoever. It is almost surprisingly engaging as you follow the expressions on each character's face and the sequence of events. The clear expressions on each character's face helps to really tell the story, as we see the boy, dog, and frog react in their own unique ways to the turtle's antics. There is no doubt in what is happening in the story, as the focus on character's expressions tells the story clearly. The use of frames also helps to depict the sequence of events, as each doublespread contains two frames, helping the reader see the before and after of each thing that happens in the story. The pictures are almost paired together, as each picture on the left side of the spread directly relates to the picture on the right, and flipping the page brings you to the next development in the story. This combination of literary elements creates meaning in the book as the reader follows the story of the boy, dog, frog, and friend. I had a wonderful time reading this book, and would recommend it to anyone, child or adult!

[Ashley Cullings · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wordless picture book follows a young boy while he is fishing. He is accompanied by a dog and frog. He boy gets excited because he feels tugging on his string and eventually falls in the water. The frog and dog jump in to help the boy and see what he caught. The dog becomes very upset when he notices it was a turtle. The dog and turtle start to argue and mess with each other as the frog mostly observes. As the dog gets away, the frog notices that something happened to the turtle... or so they think.

For being a wordless book, I was surprised at how small the book was. I would have liked the leaves of the book to be larger so the illustrations would be bigger too. I also wish that the illustrations were colorful which would have added more dimension to the story, especially when the cover was already in color. The characters seemed to be pretty well developed for being wordless. It was easy to understand each of their emotions when they reacted to each situation. The plot is also quite funny with the way the dog and turtle mess with each other. It can be taken in a few ways, as a playful fight or them genuinely being upset with each other.

[Elizabeth Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

Boy and dog are walking to a lake. They find a frog and while trying to catch the frog series of mishaps happen in which they are unsuccessful in catching the frog. There is a fun twist at the end.
My first impression of this book was the overall simplicity of the story, or plot. The boy and his dog could be any boy and their dog. The fact that the boy is not given a name leaves the adventures throughout the story up for grabs. Although the book is simply about a boy, a dog, and a frog, they event depicted through the illustrations display more than a simple trip to the lake. The book redefines what a day in a child’s life really is. Children are still learning the concept of friendships, as well as the opportunity the world has for them. Both ideas are portrayed throughout the book.
The author, Mercer Mayer, deliberately illustrates the book by leaving out color, as if telling the reader that they need to add their own interpretation and emotion to the events in this young boy’s day. Mayer also uses the facial expression of the boy to show the author how he is feeling. Because there are no words the reader relies heavily on the boy, the dog, and the frog’s facial expressions.

[Missy LeBlanc Ivey]

Originally published in 1971.

***A WORDLESS BOOK***

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NOT LISTED IN AR PROGRAM
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Wordless book! I've got a grandkid falling behind in reading. I found all of Mercer Mayer's books online at Internet Archive on 8/26/2023. I would have purchased some on Amazon or Thriftbooks.com, or anywhere else, but, I actually need books with WORDS.

Available online at Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/details/boydogfro...

[SaraKat · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book series was mentioned by my children's literature textbook as an example of illustrations that add to the text (in this case, there is no text) and extend the story. The story is told only with pictures and follows the adventures of a boy and his friends on a fishing trip. I didn't really enjoy this one because of the boy getting mad at his dog for "killing" a turtle who seemed to be trying to kill it. And the sudden friendship at the end was a little abrupt.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Things don't look good for a friendship with the turtle. The turtle pulls the others into the water and also bites the dog. Mostly the frog gets off easy.

But, they're sad when they think the turtle has died. Sneaky turtle. Maybe a good opportunity to introduce the phrase "playing possum"?

[Jett Ventresco · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story has no words and is just strictly a picture book. I enjoyed this book immensely because of the art style used. I also think that the story was easy to understand and fun for the mind because the reader can imagine what the characters are saying making it unique to the reader.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a delightful little book. Wordless books are so wonderful in their interpretation varieties. I love how detailed the illustration are, so emotion and animation so well. A great text to inspire imagination, and for readers who love adventures.

[Corinne · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite go-tos for younger kids to "read" to you by describing what is happening in the pictures. Great way to develop reading skills before you can read.

[Calista · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, Short, Sweet.
Before Mercer Mayer hugely popular series came out, there was this wordless series about a boy spending time in nature. The artwork is black ink on white paper. Simple.

The boy is cute. He is a real fisherman with waders and everything. He has help from his trusty friends Dog and Frog. I haven't read the first two, so this is my first exposure to the series. It was cute.

Great for anyone who loves fishing.

[Donna Mork · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent wordless book.

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

A weaker sequel.

[Jillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wordless picture book published 50 years ago...discovered when weeding the school library. Entertaining!

[Eliza VanDewalker]

The premise, overcoming evil and forgiveness

[Wetdryvac Wetdryvac · Rating 5 out of 5]

In an era of cute strangeness, this is sure some cute strangeness. I like it.

[Dorthe Svendsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nydelig bildebok anbefalt fra studiet. Kan veldig godt inspirere til både muntlighet og skriftlighet i språkfag. Tar opp både hevn, vennskap og samarbeid.

[AVK · Rating 5 out of 5]

no words picture book. loved it

[Child960801 · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are delightful wordless books about a boy, and his dog, their friend the frog and in this one, a turtle.

[Polly Crandall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully drawn.

[Olivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me dio ternura

[Payton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picture Book (wordless)
No Awards found
Grades PK-1
-This book belongs in this category for its illustrations and the fact that it has no words!
-Visual Element: Color. The illustrations are not very colorful at all. They are drawn with what seems to be a brownish pencil on cream colored paper. The yellowish tint of the book creates a sense of warmth and happiness as the story goes along to give the reader a feeling that the story is fun and happy, without having to use words.
-I would use this book in one of my classes to show that a really good book doesn't necessarily have to have words. I would also use it to show how it's possible to convey a certain feeling without using any words at all. I would also use this for teaching context clues. Since the book has no words, students will need to use their context clues in order to understand what's happening in the story. I might could have the students write what they think the book would have if it did have words. This also encourages using imagination for writing skills.

[Amber McFarland · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Boy, a Dog, a Frog, and a Friend is a story about a boy, his dog, and his frog going fishing. When they were fishing they ended up hooking a turtle (a friend). The turtle drags him into the water so naturally the dog and the frog go after him but the turtle is not so nice to them, as it bites the dog on his paw. After that the turtle pretends to be dead so they start digging him a grave but he was only pretending and now the turtle is a new friend to all three of them. The story is definitely an older one, but it could be very helpful in the classroom. As most picture books do, it helps the readers imagination run wild with their own renditions of the story. The book was in black and white with what seemed like pencil drawings. Simple illustrations for a very simple story. Overall, I thought it was a good book but children might not find it that amusing.

[Lucero Hernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is wordless!!! It is very open to a child's interpretation and I consider that this is extraordinary for ELL students in that there is not right or wrong way to read this book. It is completely left to the student to fill in the story; although, their story should be related to what they see in the pictures. Yet, I feel that any student who struggles with reading can definitely do a book report or sometype of summary of what they think the book is about. This would make the students feel a lot more comfortable for reading and writing stories, until they eventually are able to dive in to reading books (with words) and writing pieces.

[Carrie]

This book is in black and white so it forces readers to imagine color and text. This is good for children because it is something different to look at. The boy and his pals go to the lake and try to catch a turtle but he ends up falling into the water. Children are intrigued by this because they always want to know what happens next. When the boy and his dog and his frog go to bury the turtle, the turtle jumps out and surprises them. Kids would love this because it brings something exciting to the scene.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've loved Mercer Mayer since I was little ("I Was So Mad" and other treasures) but it was only this year that I discovered his wordless books. They're wonderful, beautiful representations of a simple but full-of-complex-emotions story that I love to use with my ESOL students - they write text for the story, write "thought bubbles" above characters' heads to show what each character is thinking at any moment - it's engaging and fun, encouraging writing - my reluctant writers don't shy away from it as with other writing.

[Amila Karabegovic · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Boy, A Dog, and A Frog is a great book where children that cannot read yet can look at the vivid pictures and make out the content of the story. This is great for children before they can read. The boy and the dog work together so it teaches children that a dog is a mans best friend at an early age.

[Maren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I may have said it before, but wordless books are great, especially if you want to get your child to talk about a story and develop language skills. I love this little series of books by Mercer Mayer.

[Becky B · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wordless adventure with a boy, a dog, a frog, and an advisary who ends up a friend.

Cute illustrations and dramatic reversals make this story a likely favorite of animal lovers.

Notes on content: One page does show the boy only in his undies as he prepares to rescue his dog.

[Deirdre K · Rating 4 out of 5]

love these books---no text.

This one was a Christmas gift to Sean...from one of the Elliotts.