The Green Frogs (4-1-13)

Heo, Y. (1996). The green frogs. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.

Genre: Traditional Literature- Korean Folktale

Age: 4-7

Summary: This is a retold folktale about a couple of frogs who do the exact opposite of what their mother tells them to do. Every day for years, the mom hopes they will change, but they continue to disobey. When the mother is about to die, she predicts her boys will disobey her burial wishes, so she tells them the opposite of what she wants. In their only effort to ever please their mother, they do exactly as she asks, which leads to a bit of trouble.

Reflection: This Korean folktale begins as a silly, lighthearted story, with the green frogs creating havoc as they disobey their mother. The oil paints and pencil illustrations take up an entire page next to a page of text. There is very little negative space on the page with illustrations, but the opposite page with words is surrounded by negative white space.

Each page also has a different drawing pattern adding detail and interest to the illustrations. 

Notice the frog foot pattern across the floor

Notice the flower pattern on her blanket

Notice the patterns on little frog's pants and  the mama frog's dress

At the end of the story, the reader learns the “true” reason why green frog croak when it rains. Students might find the importance of obeying their parents after reading this tale. The students would relate to the green frog characters and enjoy this silly story.