Nobody Likes Frogs, A Book of Toadally Fun Facts

I am not a fan of reptiles. Frankly I’m kind of terrified or freaked out by most. I have dreams of snakes every now and then and it is never good. Amphibians? They are not nearly as stress-inducing, but they still give me a low-grade bout of the willies. 

I was not one of those kids that caught frogs. I mean I went frog hunting with my friends, but kind of faked trying to catch them. Whew. It feels good to get that off my chest.

So. Paging through Nobody Likes Frogs, a Book of Toadally Fun Facts, by Barbara Davis-Pyles, and illustrated by Liz Wong, I was surprised to find myself fascinated and engaged. And even more surprised to find myself chuckling. 

Our guide through the world of frogs is Persnickety Q. Turtle. A dismissive, judgemental, questionably educated turtle. He is easily annoyed and has no respect for his fellow amphibians. And has no hesitance in letting them know.

This is a fun and funny exploration of not commonly known facts about frogs. Even I learned a number of things. While being entertained! 

As Persnickety gets most things wrong, the narrator is there to set him straight with interesting and surprising facts. For instance, did you know that frogs do not have to drink water? They get it through their skin! And they can even breathe through their skin when underwater! Fascinating!! There is also a page of back matter for further information.

Wong’s art is terrific. Jumping from realistically rendered frogs of quite a few different species to the comically, cartoonish turtle, Persnickety. And the combination of both styles on the same page, in the same lush, sometimes wild environments, gives it all a bit of drama and some smiles. Or as mentioned above, chuckles.

I’m not sure how or what with she created the illustrations, but there is certainly a good bit of digital here. I’ve studied each of the realistic frogs trying to figure it out. Persnickety is joined by a cartoon frog to close out the last 8 pages of the book. The drawings are hilarious and I’m pretty certain rendered digitally.

I can easily imagine further adventures of these two.

I’ve got to make a note about the end pages, too. They are a complete rainbow of frogs form aroound the world!

Nobody Likes Frogs is informative and entertaining. It moves fast but there is so much to discover with every read. And as a, let’s call it non-fan of amphibians, I found this engaging and a whole lot of fun!

Dive in to this sweet romp through a swamp. And jungle. Etc.

kevan atteberry