Our Winning Book Synopsis
The 2016 Giverny Award-winning book describes the adventures of a tree frog, from the frog’s perspective.
The narrative and illustrations harmoniously reveal the tree frog’s story. In the beginning, a man mistakenly places the tree frog in a little pond. The frog hops to a more appropriate environment and finds a potted plant on the family’s porch to call his home. Throughout the summer he is content; the mother and daughter water his plant, and the frog finds many good bugs to eat.
When summer transitions into fall, the potted plants on the porch are moved inside the house. The house is warm, but the frog cannot catch enough bugs to eat. When he ventures beyond his plant, he is discovered by the father of the house.
The little girl carefully holds her new frog friend but her parents convince her the frog needs to be outside so that he can hibernate through the winter. The family will listen for his tree frog song in the spring.
Accurate scientific content is interwoven and demonstrated in detail throughout the story. The illustrations depict summer’s bright, flowering plants and autumn’s leaf colors, migrating birds, and seasonal pumpkins. Other science concepts addressed in the book include the life cycle of the frog, food webs, diurnal and nocturnal animals, and hibernation. Illustrator Stephanie Mirocha visited the University of Minnesota and consulted with scientists in order to accurately portray tree frog habitat and behavior. The book also includes a summary science page on the life cycle of tree frogs.
Author Davis Mather is an archaeologist, and Frog in the House is his first children’s book.
The Giverny Committee thinks that everyone in the age-band (ages 4 to 8) of children’s science picture books will enjoy the story and artwork of Frog in the House. Readers will also learn some interesting science of amphibians!
