Froggy Goes to Camp

Picture Book
Title: Froggy Goes to Camp
Author: Jonathon London
Illustrator: Frank Remkiewicz
Age Level: 3+
Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary
In this book, it is the beginning of summer and Froggy is very excited and anxious to go to Camp Run-A-Muck for the first time.  He forgets to pack his bathing suit and sleeping bag so the trip to camp takes longer than expected but upon his arrival he is greeted by his friendly counselors and bunkmates.  Throughout Froggy's time at camp he finds himself in food fights, overturning kayaks on the lake, and messing with his principal.

Opinion
I chose this book because my child study student's favorite animals are frogs and this author has a series of books about Froggy and his adventures so I thought I'd give them a shot.  I thought that the illustrations in the book were very inviting with the use of cartoon art as the design style.  I think that using this art style in picture books is very captivating for young readers and create excitement while viewing the text.  I also liked how the author used catchy phrases throughout the story such as, "At sunrise, a bugle blasted--da-da ta-DOT ta-daaa!", and "Froggy hopped out of bed, got dressed--zap! zip! zoop! zup! zut! zut! zut!--".  Even while I read this I found myself chanting these lines in my head the way a young reader would say them while reading this book.  I think having dialogue like this, where the action happening or the sound happening is written in sort of a musical way, really draws the reader in and can allow for more interaction with the book if reading in a classroom setting.

I thought that this book was very well written and aesthetically inviting but I would only use this book in younger grades because I do not think there are many meaningful activities you could do along with it.  The books content is one that most children can relate to and they can draw upon personal experiences that were fun, exciting, and memorable while at summer camp.  My goal with this book would be to have students relate to the experiences they have had and maybe write short stories based off of them.