July 1, 2021
Preschool-Grade 2 The froggies want to do anything other than sleep. Their desires start simple (hopping, playing the accordion, riding their unicycles) but then grow odder (dancing underwater ballets, singing opera while flying out of a high-speed cannon, drinking fizzy soda and holding burping contests with aliens). Finally, when a jelly-headed space monster sends them tumbling through fluffy clouds and back into their beds, the froggies---despite their wild desires--find sleep after all. Gorgeously illustrated in gouache and watercolor, the near-photorealistic depictions of the spindly green frogs with their bulging yellow amphibious eyes in such nonsensical and increasingly absurd dreamscapes create a surrealist adventure that will delight readers and call to mind David Wiesner's Caldecott-winning Tuesday. The plot is thin, and yet the story surprises, page after page, and the minimal language used is charming. There's a mesmerizing playfulness to the spreads, and Gustavson's mastery of foreshortening, close-ups, and color are stunning. And keep your eyes peeled for a surprise ending that turns the book delightfully on its already-spinning head.
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September 1, 2021
This fanciful yarn begins with a small army of long-legged, yellow-eyed frogs mischievously slinking out of their collective bed. "The froggies do NOT want to sleep. They want to hop." A joyous double-page spread showcases the amphibians leaping in every direction across an all-white background. From here things get weird, fast. The frogs' interests quickly escalate in both scale and plausibility, from playing the accordion to jousting to blasting into outer space. The brief, straightforward text is cleverly incorporated into the book's design to reinforce meaning, maximize page-turns, and steer viewers' eyes through the illustrations. The visual climax of the tale features the frogs crash-landing into a "giant jelly-headed space monster" who tickles them, sending them back to Earth and ultimately back to bed. Vivid gouache and watercolor illustrations feature bold, energetic brushstrokes. Secondary action (a one-eyed alien hitches a ride to Earth with the frogs) and amusing details (the frogs drink a soda called "Croak") abound, adding an extra layer of whimsy. Patrick Gall
(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
Starred review from April 1, 2021
Eschewing sleep, the froggies engage in bizarre nighttime capers. This unusual bedtime book alerts readers with the bold opening message that "the froggies do NOT want to sleep." Indeed! Instead, the froggies want to hop. Reasonable. They also want to practice the accordion, ride unicycles, and play dress up! Hmmm? They want to go on long country drives and "joust like knights." OK. And they want to perform underwater ballet and "tame ferocious beasties"! Really? Pushing the envelope totally, the froggies want to sing opera while being shot from a cannon, fly spaceships, and engage in burping contests with ETs. But they absolutely do not want to sleep...maybe. Beginning with the froggies' surreptitious exit from bed on the front endpapers, the realistically executed, fantastically conceived illustrations track the froggies' nocturnal activities from the sublime to the ridiculous in a series of increasingly dramatic double-page spreads. Early images show leggy amphibians tiptoeing across the page before exuberantly hopping frogs jam-pack the spread. Hilarious scenes of frogs playing accordions, spinning on unicycles, dressing up in period costumes, speeding like Mr. Toad in a flashy red roadster, aerially jousting with toilet plungers, performing ballet lifts underwater, riding a submerged alligator (backward), operatically exploding from a cannon, and zipping through galaxies in a spaceship appropriately culminate on the rear endpapers with the exhausted froggies finally crashing into bed. A zany, rib-tickling bedtime tour de force. (Picture book. 3-6)
COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
July 1, 2021
This fanciful yarn begins with a small army of long-legged, yellow-eyed frogs mischievously slinking out of their collective bed. "The froggies do NOT want to sleep. They want to hop." A joyous double-page spread showcases the amphibians leaping in every direction across an all-white background. From here things get weird, fast. The frogs' interests quickly escalate in both scale and plausibility, from playing the accordion to jousting to blasting into outer space. The brief, straightforward text is cleverly incorporated into the book's design to reinforce meaning, maximize page-turns, and steer viewers' eyes through the illustrations. The visual climax of the tale features the frogs crash-landing into a "giant jelly-headed space monster" who tickles them, sending them back to Earth and ultimately back to bed. Vivid gouache and watercolor illustrations feature bold, energetic brushstrokes. Secondary action (a one-eyed alien hitches a ride to Earth with the frogs) and amusing details (the frogs drink a soda called "Croak") abound, adding an extra layer of whimsy.
(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)