The combination of Mo Willem’s spare language and Jon J Muth’s luminous, emotion-filled paintings is unexpected, yet delicious. This story of a friendship opening and closing chronicles the year in the life of a city dog who meets a country frog on his own turf (lily pad?). Together dog and frog explore the other’s idea of fun and the natural environment around them. As the story follows the seasons, the natural cycle of life asserts itself and the frog’s life ends, City Dog wonders if he’ll have another friendship like the one he shared with frog. The beautiful, spare language and gorgeous, expression-filled illustrations are perfection; this is on my shortlist for Caldecott.
City Dog, Country Frog would be a terrific read-aloud for children up through 4th grade. The death of frog is addressed very gently – he’s simply not at the pond when dog arrives to spend the winter with his friend. But it’s not all poignant sentiment; there are many humorous moments, mostly conveyed through the illustrations.
Reviewed by Melissa Henderson, Children’s Department
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