5 January 2013 RIBBIT! by Rodrigo Folgueira and Poly Bernatene, ill., Knopf, March 2013, 32p., ISBN: 978-0-307-98146-2

"I don't want to fake you out

Take or shake or forsake you out

I ain't lookin' for you to feel like me

See like me or be like me

All I really want to do

Is, baby, be friends with you"

-- Bob Dylan (1964)

"But again, all the little pig said was...

'Ribbit!'

"News of the little pig who thought he was a frog spread fast, and all the animals hurried to the pond to see the visitor...

"'This new relative of yours is a little pink!' said the raccoon.

"'He's no relation of ours!' declared the frogs.

"'He certainly sounds like a frog...' said the weasel.

"'Why would a pig want to be a frog?' said the parrot.

"'And what's wrong with being a frog, may we ask?' exclaimed the frogs.

"Everyone started shouting at each other, completely ignoring the little pig...

...who just sat their practicing his

'Ribbit!'"

The world can always use another good friendship story, and this one -- about the little pink pig who one day mysteriously appears on a rock at the frog pond and says (What did he say?) is a really great one. It's got that perfect audience join-in hook. And it has an absolutely joyful ending. What more could we ask for? Oh, yeah. That too: very well-drawn animal characters and a wise old beetle to clue them all in on which way is up. But the best parts of the illustrations are the frogs themselves. With dozens of expressive frogs who are different from one another, I get such a kick out of looking from frog to frog to frog as they all freak out over what the little pink pig says.

(What does he say?)

The ending is not only joyful; it is a very fun surprise.

Don't miss it!

Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com
Moderator http://groups.yahoo.com/group/middle_school_lit/

http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/people/faculty/partingtonr/partingtonr.php