Frog Meets Dog: An Acorn Book

Frog and Dog #1

by Janee Trasler

Dog wants to play. Can Dog play with Frog, Frog, and Frog? The frogs hop... but Dog just FLOPS. Will the frogs ever play with Dog? Then a hungry bear comes along! Can Dog find a way to help the frogs?

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Graphic Novels, Juvenile, Dogs, Humor

48 pages, Paperback

First published May 5, 2020

Reviews

[Lagobond]

A seriously clever book for very beginning readers. I'm extremely impressed with the standout quality, a sign of how much care and attention to detail was invested by everyone involved in bringing this book to market (from author & illustrator, to editor & book designer).

First of all we have an eventful tale with a proper story arc, which is not always a given in children's books (or any kind of books, for that matter). The story is cute, with lots of surprise moments, from a blend of the funny and the "oh no!" and the "no way!" categories. The illustrations are expressive and adorable, beautifully colored, yet simple and strong. Oh and the whole thing also rhymes, if you can believe it. And it rhymes in ways that enhance the storytelling, rather than just giving a list of stuff, as many rhyming books do because, let's face it, children's book authors are just as bored as the rest of us at their jobs. At least every now and then.

But anyway, back to this little gem here: As if the above weren't enough, the book also (!) subtly and consistently introduces kids to basic text-structuring elements. By which I mean things like chapter headings; explanatory labels; speech bubbles in illustrations; lines denoting direction of movement, or shouting, or labeling; and uppercase letters used to express emphasis/surprise/volume increase. Remarkable in a book for readers of such a young age. The book manages to set up a rhyming pattern for a new vocabulary word by repeating a known word four times and then immediately introducing the new word. That blew me away. Also, the vocabulary, tone, and reading difficulty level are perfectly matched to readers of the targeted audience's age group, which is the one that is excited about a simple little story like this.

Finally, the book is small enough to be comfortably handled by a younger child, and the paper is slightly rough so as to allow for easier page flipping. Oh, and! and! and! it's a sturdy hardcover that isn't bothered by grabby hands attached to kids who REALLY WANNA KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT AHHHH. (Hah! See what I did there? Well this little book does that kind of thing very well.)

If everything above sounds like mumbo-jumbo to you and you just wanna know if you should get this book for your kid: YES! You'll love it, and so will your kid.

[Jillian]

So much fun & surprisingly clever! Love the rhyming & repetition & laughs, and especially the facial expressions! Will be great for my emergent readers!

[Pam]

I received an electronic ARC from Scholastic, Inc.
Simple to follow text with fun characters. Dog wants to play with the frogs. Disasters happen at every turn until Dog saves them from Bear.
Brightly colored illustrations will appeal to early readers.

[Alicia]

For: beginning readers interested in understanding a story mainly through pictures.

Possible red flags: The images do no reflect the text and vice versa. Some readers may have trouble with context clues.

[Sierra Kemme]

Frog meets Dog is a part of the Acorn Book series by Janee Transler that I would classify in the Comic genre. This book introduces the idea of cross-cultural friendships. With perseverance, flexible thinking, and a willingness to try new things, Dog and Frogs are able to forge a friendship despite different interests and abilities. This beginning reader features common sight words, rhyming words, and words from word families. It is from the same publisher as the Bumble and Bee series but is ideally suited for children just beginning to read independently. It uses short simple text with simple straight forward plots and engaging illustrations. I would use this book for independent reading time in my classroom library, but also as a resource to send home for parents to practice sight words with their children.

[Meredith]

Dog wants to play with a trio of frogs.

This installment of the Frog and Dog series contains the stories:
* "Hi"
* "Bear"
* "Play!"

This book introduces the idea of cross-cultural friendships. With perseverance, flexible thinking, and a willingness to try new things, Dog and Frogs are able to forge a friendship despite different interests and abilities.

This beginning reader features common sight words, rhyming words, and words from word families. It is from the same publisher as the Bumble and Bee series but is ideally suited for children just beginning to read independently. It uses short simple text with simple straight forward plots and engaging illustrations.

[Lori]

Love it! My end of the year Kindergartener was able to read 97% of it all by herself. The pictures are super cute and do a great job of expanding on the limited text. Lots of repetition helps with word practice. Highly recommended!

Words she knew (or could sound out):
frog, dog, meets, to too, play, can, hop, flop, deep, jump, thump, will, where, no, help, pop, drop, bump, lump, heap, sleep
Words she guessed right:
hi, leap, day, yay, eat, fly
Words she did not know:
wants, sigh, another, bear, there, more, roar, how, ow, wow

[Katie]

3 frogs meet Dog! Can they play together? It appears Dog isn’t very good at Frog things, but they can still be friends!

This is technically a chapter book, which I read to my son, but there are very few words, so it’s a quick read! The simple illustrations really tell the story. If you have a beginning reader or a 4 year old that loves stories, this is cute!

[Becky B]

Dog meets three frogs and wants to play, but their interactions don't go very well at first. Can they be friends?

Very simple rhyming text paired with humorous interactions of a dog who accidentally comes off a little scary to 3 frogs, but ends up saving the day. This is a good choice for just beginning readers. The text is super simple and the font is large.

[Renee]

Repetitive words labeling pictures in the book. A couple short sentences. Good for kids just starting to read. Will purchase this and the other books for our early reader section. Goat in a Boat & Hog on a Log

[Em]

Really great as an early reader for young kids. The rhymes make it easier for kids to sound out words they don’t know and the story is simple but funny enough they’ll want to keep reading. Worked well for my boys and I will try more in the series

[Liz]

Dog just wants to play with the frogs, but he's too different for it to work. When he protects the frogs from a bear, the frogs figure out ways for all to play. A lot of repetition and about 3-5 different words per page.

[Abi Cushman]

This book has been great for my son learning to read. I like the simple word choice, the repetition, and the rhyming to help him sound out and acquire new words. The story and illustrations are funny, so that makes the experience really enjoyable for both of us.

[N_schiele]

Easy rhyming. Scholastic Acorn series. Simple storyline great for K-1 readers

[Julie]

This sort of reminds me of Dr. Seuss beginning readers.

[Kelly]

What a wonderful early reader!! Fun to read.

[Syntha Green]

Such a fun book with a nice how to draw frog lesson at the back

[Bryan Loar]

Early readers will enjoy the simple, repetitive text paired with humor and friendship.

[Dawn]

Basic, but cute.
Repetitive text, but in a natural way. (Three frogs and they repeat the same things)
Also, I am super partial to rhyming books, so that made me happy.

[Jenn]

Funny beginning reader for the very new reader. I love the repetition and the sound families. There is a lot of emotion packed into a book with very few words. Also, a surprising amount of action.

[Myron]

It was so easy to read, there were 3-5 words on each page.

[Bonnie Arriola]

ADORABLE!!!!

[KaitandMaddie]

It’s funny and it’s decodable. Love it.

[Pinky]

Dog saves some frogs from a bear so, now they can play.

[Natalie]

Dog wants to play with the frogs but they're not very interested. Bear comes along and Dog saves the day and the frogs. Now the frogs will play, but poor dog still runs into mishaps.

[Kelly]

omg, sooo cute! Excellent rhymes for starting readers!

[Michelle]

My 5 year old daughter was mostly able to read this book on her own ^^ It was kind of sad for the dog.

[Malachi]

This is one of the first books I started paying attention to! It is over 40 pages long and I LOVE to look at the art on every page. I like when Daddy says “ROAR” for the bear.

[Margaret Boling]

10/19/2024 ~ Funny. Even with so few words, there's lots happening in the story through the illustrations.

[Meghan]

Surprisingly hard to find a good reader for early phonics practice, with simple words throughout. This one is GREAT, with legitimately funny antics and cute pictures to boot.