The Story of Frog Belly Rat Bone
April 5th, 2003by Timothy Basil Ering
ISBN: 0763613827
This book has all of what I think are the elements of a great children’s (picture) book: honest story, visual interest, words that are fun to say out loud, and an abundance of imagination.
There is also a bit of magic, earnest feeling, specks, and thieves. Oh, and the hunt for hidden treasure. The book isn’t so much illustrated as it happens to be a painting that has pages you can turn — and the artist hand-lettered the story. (This makes for a bit of squinting on a couple of pages, but otherwise works extremely well, and makes the book work as whole piece.)
The story is about a boy in Cementland who is searching for treasures. He finds one, and creates Frog Belly to protect it. Frog Belly does much more, though. It is great fun to read out loud, too:
“Frog Belly Rat Bone,
one, two, three . . .
You must be patient and
then you will see. . . .”
Bottom line: whimsical without being cloying, cute in an E.T. instead of fuzzy kittens kind of a way, and fun whether you have a little kid at home or not.
