NIGHT NIGHT, TREE FROGS

Seven frogs lose their perch in a tree but find their way back as evening falls.

In this debut picture book, written with gentle humor, children can practice counting as one little tree frog, sitting alone on a leafy branch, happily greets a second and then welcomes another and another. Lap sitters and early readers will no doubt anticipate the outcome when the fifth frog appears and the branch begins “to bend.” When seven clowning frogs crowd together, the branch cracks under their combined weight, sending them to the grass below. Chaos reigns as the amphibians hop every which way until the wise, first tree frog suggests that they collaborate to get back home. Their teamwork pays off. When night falls, all seven frogs are back in their tree, each on “his own little twig,” peacefully asleep. Carroll’s rhyming text offers children a clear, simple narrative, albeit with a somewhat forced bounce (“Then there were seven little tree frogs / Hopping in the grass. / This way and that way, / In circles they would pass”). The color illustrations reflect the whimsical story and contribute professional polish, with full-page renderings of the smiley-faced green amphibians perched in a pretty, leafy tree; hopping about in the grass; and sleeping under a starry sky. Each frog wears a different-colored T-shirt, with one sporting a baseball cap, one strumming a guitar, one with a jump-rope, and another holding a hoop.

A perky, visually appealing addition to the counting-book category.