Once There Was a Bull...

by Rick Walton, Greg Hally (Illustrator)

A bullfrog in the Old West loses his hop in this lively tale where each page must be turned to complete the previous image.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Fiction, Poetry, Storytime, Humor

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Born and raised in Utah, Walton is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormon Church. He served as a missionary to Brazil from 1976 to 1978, soon after he graduated from high school. Later, at Brigham Young University, he became president of the Brazil Club. In 1980, he graduated from Brigham Young with a bachelor's degree in Spanish and a minor in Portuguese, the language spoken in Brazil.

Walton's education continued after he obtained his degree. In 1980, he went back to Brigham Young for one semester of graduate work in business, but chose not to follow that career path. Deciding to become a teacher, he earned certification in elementary education from Brigham Young in 1987, as well as certification to teach gifted and talented students. Up to that point, he had held a number of jobs, including a year with the parks and recreation department of Provo, Utah. In 1987, he began teaching sixth grade at a local public school, then switched to a private school.

Also interested in computers, Walton would later publish several items of software. He left teaching to accept a position as software designer for IBM in 1989. In 1994, he turned to freelance software design and writing. He also returned to Brigham Young University once again, this time to earn his master's degree in English, with an emphasis on creative writing.

Walton's wife, Ann, with whom he has written many of his books, is a computer programmer. They were married in 1983, and have five children. With Dumb Clucks! and Something's Fishy! in 1987, the Waltons began writing books.

Reviews

[Gabriela Francisco]

This book is SHEER GENIUS!

This is the magic of a storybook that no lecture on compound words can ever replace.

The author shows half of an object, to match the first half of a compound word ("Once there was a bull..." shows half of a bull).

But then you turn the page, and the compound word is revealed! And it's a totally different word, and a totally different illustration! (..."frog!" and you see a bullfrog!)

I loved it and I just know my Grade 1 students will love it when I read it to them tomorrow during our lesson on... what else? COMPOUND WORDS! :)

[Paul]

the date you completed reading the book: 10-29-20
a star rating (1 to 5): 5
the date: 10-29-20
the genre: poetry
appropriate grade range: K-2
a written book review:
A great way to help teach compound words. The pictures help illustrate this.

[Brianna]

With every turn of the page leading into something different, this gets kids excited about trying to guess what the next possible item is going to be. The amazing illustrations capture further the fun adventures and the different wordplay perfectly. Amazing book to get students excited about reading.

[Lacey]

Didn't care for the story or the illustrations. The bull.. frog, has lost his hop, and this is his journey to find it. I gave it 3 stars due to word choice.

[Kaley Coburn]

Good for capturing students attention and allows them to infer what is happening next

[Annie Jewell]

This book had a great play on words, but putting the last part of the word on the next page it always keeps them excited to turn the page and keep reading.

[Sherry Scheline]

This book was very cute. Thank you Mr.Griffith for choosing this book for story time.

[Wally Alexander]

Very catchy verse spitting compound words at the end of the page.

[Jillian Coull]

Fun read, children will definitely stay engaged with this story as it is not predictable and silly. Recommend for elementary students.

[Maya Brainard]

Both this book and Bullfrog Pops, have a lot of word play in them and that is what makes them so exciting for children to read. I very much enjoyed these books as well.

[Stephen Snyder]

A fun book to read to little children and a great way to introduce them to rhymes.

[Travis]

Cute simple book. I enjoyed it.

[Lucy G]

This is such a silly book! I love to guess what word is coming up on the next page!

[Patricia Gower]

Fantasy

[Becky]

This book begins with an illustration of what looks like a bull's behind, complete with a long tail that spirals into a coil at the end. The corresponding text reads: "Once there was a bull..."

Turn the page, and there's an illustration of a green bullfrog with his long flickery tongue, and the text reads: "frog who lost his hop."

So begins the story of the bullfrog's quest to regain his hop and, along the way, the reader is treated to some fun tricks with compound words. With a turn of the page, a cow becomes a cowboy, the sun becomes a sunflower, and a diamond becomes a diamond-backed (OK, so that's not a compound word!) rattlesnake, all with appropriately morphing illustrations.

In addition to being a fun way to cement the concept of compound words, this is just a cute book that much younger kids would enjoy, too. My two-and-a-half-year-old loves it because it's full of animals!

[Shelli]

Once There Was a Bull...(frog) (1995), written by Rick Walton and illustrated by Greg Hally, follows a bullfrog who is in search of his lost hop. Using broken compound words, the story and its illustrations make the reader guess what the second part of the word is. A humorous and fun story.

Themes: Compound words; Persistence

Ways to use this book with children:
*Read aloud with children and have them predict what the next part of the compound word is based on the illustrations.
*Develop a word wall of compound words. Invite children to draw pictures that show both parts of the word.
*Write compound word riddles.

[Ina]

My storytime audience loved this book. Toad has lost his hop and looks for it everywhere but this is a tale full of delightful word play, misdirection, and surprises. The first page opens with the phrase "Once there was a bull..." and the illustration looks very much like a bull's tail. But, turn the page and the phrase continues, "...frog who had lost his hop" and the reader now sees that what we *thought* was a bull's tail was really a bullfrogs tongue loosely curled around a fly. This goes on for some pages...and he eventually finds his hop. This is definitely one that I will read aloud again!

[Jerrica]

I really enjoyed this book. The author and illustrator makes the reader think something then on the next page, it's something completely different. This strategy made me want to keep reading, if this is how i felt imagine children all over the world. Another thing i got out of this story was that the bullfrog asked different animals where his hop was and they all said different things. What i think is that everyone in this world is unique in their own little way, this teaches children to be yourself and find yourself on your own time and way. I highly recommend this book to children who are in the process of "finding" who they are in this world.

[Vivian]

The notion of "compound words" is beyond the scope of the pre-school age crowd our library story times entertain, but that doesn't mean they can't enjoy the frog's frantic search for his lost ability to hop. Our story time theme this week was on "hedgehogs" so before I began sharing the tale I suggested we keep our eyes and ears open for one. We were not disappointed.

I think the children were quite fascinated by one word morphing into a different word with each turn of the page. It's ingenious, really. I had the children repeat each new found compound word with me.

[Amanda]

This was a pretty cute book, but the humor I think is mostly lost on kids without a big vocabulary. The story continues with each page turn being the reveal of the last word ie "Once there was a bull..."(and you see what looks like a bull's tail), then on next page "frog. Who blah blah blah". The author is very inventive in telling the story this way, but I'm not sure at what age they'd understand the humor. It was completely over my almost 3 yr old's head.

[Deborah Harris]

AR Quiz No. 14859 EN Fiction
Accelerated Reader Quiz Information IL: LG - BL: 1.7 - AR Pts: 0.5
Accelerated Reader Quiz Type Information AR Quiz Types: RP, RV

I love this story! It is a great compound word book. Each page ends with half a compound word that the students have to put together to understand. They can see how the word has two parts, but you can only find the meaning by putting them together like dog house, toad stool or bull frog.

[Nielson]

This was a really cute picture book. It would be a great resource to use when teaching about compound words! I read it to my students and we played a game to see who could guess what the compound word was on the next page(i.e. once there was a lady...and the next page says "bug" etc.) The illustrations were great and also give clues as to what the compound word would be.

[Hatka Kecalovic]

This book is about a Bullfrog who loses his hop. The book is great for lessons on compound words. The book has several compound words which can be discussed with students. This book is great to read to first grade students who are learning about compound words. This book can be used in Kindergarten-1 grade classrooms.

[Laura Pharis]

This book was different than any I have encountered before. I loved the way it sparks students imagination and helps to introduce the use of compound words and how when you out those two words together they take on a whole new meaning. As a teacher this would be a great book to read-a-loud to your students and ask some predictive questions about what they think they might find on the next page.

[The Brothers]

This book was really fun because it began a thought on one page leading you to believe one thing, but when you turned the page, you realized that the last word in the previous sentence was unfinished. Dex (4 y.o.) really liked this one. The bull frog has lost his hop and has some adventures searching for it.

Cute illustrations.

[Kathy Pollock]

This book is another book I use for the thinking strategy inferring. The pictures appear to be one thing but when you turn the page it turns out to be something different. With a little guidance my kindergarten students infer using the words and pictures what the next picture will be.

[Carole]

Compound words delivered half on one page, half on the next are the basis of this story. You guess what the other part of the word is going to be; the pictures on the first page deliberately mislead you. A most entertaining and instructional book!

[David]

Rick Walton is one of my favorite children's authors and individuals. I guess it helps that I've met him a few times and interviewed him for a magazine, but what he's done, with disability and before, is pretty amazing. This is my favorite of his books.

[Sam Willis]

This book would be really good for introducing compound words to children. Each page ends with the first half of a compound word and the next page starts with the last half of the compound word. Kids would like guessing what they think is going to come next. Good for predicting what comes next.

[andie]

I read this to my baby sister and she loved it. She loves to find the frog in each picture! On one page a snake tries to eat the frog and she always says "Chuump!" (Something like that...). It's a completely adorable book.