Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1984, 1st ed.
Ages: 5 and up
Themes: humorous stories, magic, frogs
Opening: As soon as his parents kissed him goodbye and left, Gorky set up his laboratory by the kitchen sink and got to work.
Summary: (from my library catalog) Clutching the bottle of magic potion he has made, a young frog falls asleep and wakes to find himself floating in the sky.
I like this book because: of the buoyancy of the text – the lyrical prose will float your boat! It is a silly story, but beautifully told – that is ‘the sort of magic’ this story contains.
Resources/activities: this would be a great book to read before a creative writing exercise – for any age. My son’s first grade teacher encouraged kids to use more daring descriptive words (calling them ‘million dollar words’) and this is a great example to ignite young minds with.
Today’s tidbit: the story of Steig’s crying chickens HERE
I believe a book I have, Farley Farts, may be a thinly veiled rip-off of this book. It is awfully similar. Thanks again for sharing these little-known (to me) gems.
Michelle
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Interesting. I’ll have to check that one out, Michelle. I just read two books from this week’s library haul and they’re almost identical. Go figure!
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Wow, that is strange…
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I can’t resist stories with frogs in them (this is why Tuesday is one of my favorite books). 🙂
Hey, how do you get the little star and Like under comments? I can’t seem to find that widget on WordPress…I could only find the thumbs up/thumbs down one and that’s not what I’m looking for. Thanks!
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Love Tuesday! Sent you a link, dearie!
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Danke!
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Bitte, bitte!
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Sounds fab! Those chickens are cool. Your sketches might be worth a fortune one day.
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You mean I shouldn’t throw them away? Hehe
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Neverrr! (in pirate voice)
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I imagine that pirate voice comes in handy! Are you someone with a voice repertoire too?
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This one is one of the best!! Those crying chickens are pretty funny!!!!! Thanks for this fun week of Mr Steig Ms RZ!!!
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Glad you’re enjoying it!
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This sounds awesome! 😀 I love the opening and the idea of a kitchen lab!
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I figured you had a notion for potions!
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