THE FROG HOUSE
by Mark Taylor & illustrated by Barbara Garrison
Taylor spins gold, or potential gold, into straw with this uninspired elaboration of a real backyard incident. Coming upon a newly mounted birdhouse shaped and colored like an apple, a tree frog moves in all of his furnishings—and then is unaccountably pleased when one bird after another, a squirrel, and finally a cat, arrives to peck, bite, or inspect his new home. All leave quietly as soon as Frog pops out: “Oh me! I am very sorry Frog. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Making prints from collages constructed with natural materials, Garrison creates grainy, heavily textured branch-top scenes in a naïve style, framing Frog and his “visitors” in bark, nuts, leaves, and sprigs of apple blossoms. The colorful art may draw younger children, but the wooden writing and nowhere plot won’t keep their attention. (Picture book. 6-8)