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Summary
Summary
In this imaginative book, Eric Carle invites young readers to discover complementary colors while enjoying the amusing story of Little Frog and his colorful friends.
It's Little Frog's birthday, and Mama Frog gets a big surprise when the guests show up for his party--all the animals are the wrong color! Little Frog tells her she's not looking long enough, and he's right.
Author Notes
Eric Carle is an award-winning, children's picture book author and illustrator whose most recognized work is The Very Hungry Caterpillar Board Book. Carle was born to German parents in 1929 in Syracuse, New York. The family returned to Germany in 1935, moving to a suburb of Stuttgart. Carle disliked high school, quitting at the age of 16 before graduation. He was admitted as the youngest student to the Akademie der bildenden Kunste, an art school.
After finishing at the Akademie, he worked as a poster designer for the U.S. Information Center in Germany until 1952, when he moved back to New York City. He was a graphic designer at the New York Times and later worked as an art director at L.W. Frohlich & Co. In 1963, Bill Martin, Jr. saw a poster of a red lobster that Carle had designed and asked him to illustrate Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, thus launching his freelance career. Among his many children's books are Dream Snow, Hello, Red Fox, The Very Clumsy Click Beetle, and Pancakes, Pancakes! His title The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse made Publisher's Weekly Best Seller List for 2011. His title Brown Bear Brown Bear What to You See? made The New York Times Best Seller List for 2012. In 2015 he made The New Zealand Best Seller List with Love from the Very Hungry Caterpillar.
Eric Carle, beloved children's book author and illustrator, died on May 23, 2021. He was 91.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 6ÄAn introduction to the concept of complementary or opposite colors, cloaked in a story of a birthday party. Little Frog describes his animal guests to his mother, but none of them seem to be the color he attributes to themÄuntil readers stare at each of them for 10 seconds and then look at the pure-white facing page for 3 seconds. Then, Red Fox, seen as green in the large, clear illustration against a stark white background, appears red. Orange Cat, depicted as blue on the left, turns the appropriate color when the same procedure is followed. The problem is that the mechanics required to illustrate the principle and make the story work are too burdensome for preschoolers. Even older children may not have the patience or interest to sit still and repeat the necessary visual exercise all nine times it takes to complete the story, and the thin plot will hold little interest for them. Carle's many fans will no doubt pick up this book, but they are likely to tire of it quickly.ÄDiane Janoff Queens Borough Public Library, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
This simple story about Little Frog's birthday party introduces Goethe's theory of complementary colors. Left-hand pages feature an animal: readers must stare at the figure for ten seconds before focusing on the opposite white page where it assumes its complementary color. The process is intriguing, but may strain the patience of the very young; the plot is too simple for older readers. A reproduction of Goethe's color wheel and a brief note on his discovery are included. From HORN BOOK Fall 1998, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Carle (From Head to Toe, 1997) asks readers to engage in optical illusions to view his illustrations for a story that becomes an unforgettable lesson in complementary colors. By staring at a picture--e.g., the green fox on the cover--for ten seconds or longer, and then looking at a blank page, the picture reappears, in this case, the red fox of the title. The end papers feature helpful color circles so readers can locate colors and thus their complements. The story is minimal: As the animal guests arrive at Little Frog's birthday party, they appear to Mama Frog to be the wrong color--for example, Yellow Bird is purple--until Little Frog teaches her the trick. Although it may take children time to master the gimmick (and the ghostly after-image, without the details of the original picture, may not meet their expectations), the ending neatly wraps this visual tale, with Mama Frog's kiss transforming the green Little Frog to blushing red. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Ages 5-8. Before the story begins, readers are instructed to stare at a dot inside a red heart for 10 seconds, then transfer their gaze to the opposite blank page. On that empty page, the heart shape reappears, but it is green, the opposite or complementary color. The very slight story is really just a reason to explore this phenomenon. Little Frog invites Red Fox, Purple Butterfly, Orange Cat, and others to his birthday party, but when they arrive, Mama Frog observes that the fox is green, not red, and the butterfly is yellow, not purple, and so on. In each case, Little Frog instructs his mother to examine the image of the animal, then look at the blank opposite page where the guest appears in the true color. The required "looking" time disrupts the flow of the story, but as an experiment, it is great fun. Facing the title page, there's a brief history and explanation of Goethe's Farbenlehre, or color theory, but curious children will want to know more than the information provided. A playful starting point for science discussions at home or at school, this is sure to intrigue children. (Reviewed April 1, 1998)0689817754Linda Perkins
