City Dog, Country Frog

This book is so beautifully written and illustrated. It's unbelievable how much Mo Willems is able to say with so few words. I found it so touching and my young children also love it. City Dog Country Frog sparks so many questions and conversations about the seasons of the year and of life. I could not recommend this book more.

There are some authors and illustrators who can do no wrong… And an unbeatable pair teamed up to create City Dog, Country Frog. A departure from Mo Willems typical humorous books, the pairing of Willems’ poignant text and beautiful watercolors from Jon J. Muth results in an amazing contribution to the picture book world.A disclaimer… This book may be a conversation starter about life cycles and death. But, the specifics of that are left to the reader. I first read this book as a part of a Mock Caldecott unit with 3rd graders (8- and 9-year-olds) in January 2011. When I previewed the book, I was slightly anxious about reading this with my class, in case it opened doors to conversations about death that I wasn’t sure I was ready to lead. Instead, I found my students excited to debate exactly what happened to the frog— did he die? move? hibernate? My roomful of 20 students was excited to discuss their opinions and interested to try to back up their ideas through friendly debate. I didn’t have to say a word, and they were content with their conversation and ideas!Fast forward a few years, and this book has become a favorite in our house with our 5-year-old and 2.5-year-old daughters — and neither is bothered by the disappearance of the frog. As we read City Dog, Country Frog, we talk about friendships lost and the courage it takes to make new friends, which gives us an age-appropriate way to share and enjoy this book.Now to the review… As I stated above, Willems and Muth are an unbeatable team! The words are minimal and illustrations emotional and beautiful, and the combination is an extremely tender story of friendships new and old. The teaching and talking points are numerous; conversations can be had about courage to make new friends, time needed to grieve loss, changing seasons (both in terms of weather and life stages), differences in personal experience based on where you live, things we can teach each others, impacts friends have on our own lives… I could go on and on. Parents, caregivers, and teachers will want to be aware of their children’s personal experiences regarding death before sharing this book, but it could also be a wonderful resource to sensitively and gently begin conversations about loss and death when children may need that, too.And the illustrations. Oh the illustrations! These watercolors quickly caught my eye and my heart. They are absolutely beautiful, filled with light, emotion, and humor all at once. In fact, my husband and I were both so taken by the paintings that we used prints from this book to decorate our nursery five years ago, and the framed illustrations still hang in our daughter’s room today.Thank you, Mo Willems and Jon J. Muth, for this heart-touching, humorous, gentle story of friendship and loss. May your collaboration grace many bookshelves for years to come!

Our beloved family dog had died quite suddenly and even though he had lived a long, happy life (12 years), we were all having a difficult time coming to terms with the abruptness of his passing. The kids had never experienced life without our dog, and my oldest was especially at sea. My youngest was still a few years away from really understanding death, and I was happy for her. She was deeply comforted by the Rainbow Bridge story and I assured her that our dog was very happy in dog heaven. My oldest, on the other hand, has always been the kind of kid who asks hard questions. He's skeptical of everything.This book is perfect for kids like that. It doesn't say anything about the afterlife, or the natural order of things, or the way of the world. It quietly and gently acknowledges that when someone you love is gone, you are going to be sad. Sometimes for a very long time. It also recognizes that eventually, you will find room in your life for another friend and that it's okay to be happy again.

This is a wonderful book. I'm a sucker for the emotional richness of Muth's artwork, and it gives the simple story the breadth that it needs to allow children (and parents) to discover a wealth of ripples there. Among the themes present (which not all reviewers seem to have given credence):1. Very different people can be friends.2. In the process of being friends, they teach each other about their different worlds, and maybe even create a new one together.3. People that we love sometimes leave us (and it's nice here that we don't overtly know whether the frog died, hibernated, or moved on, because loved ones leave in a wide variety of ways that may have nothing to do with us). It's also nice that they do the remembering part in the fall, as this will resonate with how many young people interact with their elderly relatives.4. We miss the people who we've lost, but they leave their imprint on us (that froggy grin).5. Life goes on. I totally disagree with those who think that this means that the message is "friends are disposable" -- quite the opposite, dog spends a whole season in mourning, and is still sad when spring arrives. But then he takes what he learned from frog and applies it to the trip back to point 1, making a new friend with the possibility of new discoveries.Anyway, none of this stuff hits you over the head, but all the sensations are there in the delicate lighting of the watercolors. My 2.5-year-old and I have enjoyed reading it very much, and I expect that we will enjoy it in ever-changing ways as she gets older. That's a rarity.This feels like a collaboration of two great artists, like when Yoyo Ma does albums with Indian tabla players and the like -- they each recognized the power of what the other was doing, and imagined that a combination might allow good things to happen. I have no idea whether that's actually how this book came to be, but I hope so -- it certainly worked!!

I haven't actually had a chance yet to read through this book, so unfortunately can't comment on the content. My brother won't let me buy toys anymore, for birthday & christmas presents, for my little nieces & nephews - he insisted that I only buy them books now, to encourage their reading. One of my nieces isn't much of a reader yet, and it's been quite difficult to find books so far that catch her attention (she declared she didn't like the books I got her last Xmas!). For her 7th birthday, I enlisted the help Grandma this time, in choosing out books for her: "City Dog, Country Frog" was one of them... and a very good choice indeed (thanks Mum!). After opening her presents, she immediately picked up this book and started reading it! I believe the beautiful illustrations caught her attention & kept her hooked. Mission (impossible) accomplished!

Sehr schöne farbige Bilder, Die Geschichte hat eine tiefe Bedeutung ist aber sehr leicht erzählt. Das Buch ist ideal um Kindern den Zyklus des Lebens näher zu bringen und auch leicht zu erklären. Thema: Freundschaft, Freude, Spiel, Teilen, Veschiedenartigkeit und trotdem Freunde, Annehmen, Abschied, Tod, Trauer, Ueberwindung der Trauer neue Freundschaft.

As pictured.

Ein wunderbares Buch über eine Freundschaft,die das Annehmen, die Gnade und eine Liebe darstellt.So schön gemalt!Auch ein Tipp zum Verschenken.

Beautiful