TOO MANY FROGS!

Asher and Graves pay respects to the pleasures of reading aloud in this tale of a solitary rabbit saddled with an unwanted visitor. One stormy night, just as Rabbit’s about to sit down in his easy chair with a book, Frog knocks at the door, begging shelter. After listening raptly while Rabbit reads, Frog departs with thanks—but returns for more the next night, and for several nights after that, making himself more and more at home, too. A peace-loving sort, Rabbit puts up with the intrusion—until Frog shows up with a score of relatives. Using his customary palette of intense, opaque colors, Graves casts the episode with pop-eyed, Ren-and-Stimpy–like figures, comically contrasting rotund, cheery frogs with a bright blue rabbit who sports skinny, immensely long ears and a fussy look. Furiously slamming the door on Frog and his kin, Rabbit then discovers that reading to himself just isn’t the same, and so relents. Readers and listeners alike will applaud his decision. (Picture book. 6-8)