The Ongoing Legacy of Frog and Toad

By Mark Mabry, Head Teacher

“Frog and Toad are friends. They have adventures. Sometimes existential dilemmas. All in brilliantly limited vocabulary and sentence structure that kept me sane and entertained through no less than 4,785,421 readings with beginning readers.”
—Jon Scieszka, celebrated children’s author and former second grade teacher

“Arnold Lobel had a special genius for incorporating Socratic irony into his simplest children’s stories. His one-liners have the grace, humor and profundity of great poetry. Yet Frog and Toad, because of the utter simplicity of its vocabulary, counts as a primer, an “I Can Read” book.”
—Gareth Matthews, "The Philosophy of Childhood"


Fifty years ago, a small children’s book about the exploits of two dear companions, an anthropomorphic frog and toad, was published. Written and illustrated by an up-and-coming author, Arnold Lobel, the volume contained five charming stories that related the trials and tribulations of a genuine friendship. Frog and Toad Are Friends was the first volume of four that Lobel gifted the world over the next decade. Though intended as a series for emerging K-2 readers, the books have become icons of quality children’s literature, with equal appeal as read-aloud picture books for nursery school children and timeless classics enjoyed by older children and adults. The themes, language, warmth and humor found in these books continue to resonate with audiences to this day—these stories have not seemed to age. 

The two protagonists in these books have personalities that permeate all 20 stories. Frog is affable, thoughtful and somewhat unflappable, though he can at times be a bit condescending with his friend. Toad, on the other hand, can be stubbornly pragmatic, worrisome, sometimes easily frustrated (he is prone to confronting problems by taking to his bed), and often looks to Frog to help him through what Lobel called his “neuroses.” Though they are very different creatures, it is clear that they accept each other for who they are. These two friends experience the ups and downs of a real relationship, sometimes getting on each other’s nerves, but more often supporting, laughing with, and ultimately always being there for each other. 

Our experience over the years in reading these stories with the young children at Bing has been compelling. Whether we’re sitting on the couch in the book area, surrounded by a small group of children, or presenting the book to the entire classroom at storytime, the children pay rapt attention as the narratives unfold. They smile and chuckle appreciatively at the understated humor and irony with which Lobel imbues these tales, and they’re charmed by his illustrations that perfectly capture Frog and Toad’s rapport. And during storytime readings, parents, caregivers, grandparents and older siblings often seem among the most appreciative—tittering in delight as the stories unfold. 

In the challenging days of 2020, when we, as a community, were forced to reach out to each other online because of the global pandemic, we kept reading to the children via videos of stories and songs. Some of these Frog and Toad stories were also shared with Bing alumni. The response from the parents of these former students was quite touching. For instance, they related that their now teenage (?!) children were still interested in listening to these stories with the same smiles on their faces as when they were 4-year-olds. And parents also felt the stories transported them back to a place of solace and peace. 

So what might be the transcendent magic of the Frog and Toad books? 

When Lobel wrote his first Frog and Toad volume, many publishers of books for young English learners employed something called the Dolch List, which consists of the words that appeared most frequently in children’s books. Authors constructed children’s texts using this limited vocabulary so that children would have similar reading experiences across books. When Dr. Seuss arrived on the scene, he somewhat bent this practice, in that he mostly stuck to the list but also enhanced his stories with nonsense words. However, when Lobel started writing “I Can Read” beginning reader books for Harper & Row, the publisher placed no such restrictions on him. “I have total freedom, and the only harness is that I am aware as I work that I’m doing a reader. If there are words I can’t find a comfortable substitute for, I’ll put a big word in. My theory is, if the child is interested in the story, he’ll learn the words.” When Frog and Toad are testing their bravery in Dragons and Giants, they—and the reader—encounter an “avalanche” rather than “rocks rolling down a hill.” This sensibility allowed Lobel the freedom to write compelling narratives that had a natural flow and captivated children as they unpacked the mechanics of decoding the written word.

This liberty to expand the possibilities of storytelling in books for young children was complemented by Lobel’s notion that, rather than writing for children, he was writing about things that were personally meaningful to him as an adult, but in a way that would be relatable for children. “All of the Frog and Toad stories are based on adult preoccupations really. I was able to tilt them somehow so that a child could appreciate them too, but I think that adults also enjoy them—and I think that’s probably why. It’s because they’re really adult stories, slightly disguised as children’s stories.” He had a firm belief in the competence of children and saw them as just as capable as adults in relating to the uncertainties, joys, dilemmas and humor in life. Lobel took great pride in the fact that his Frog and Toad stories were equally enjoyed by children and adults.

Trained as an illustrator, Lobel never thought of himself as a natural writer. He said that the books in the Frog and Toad series were the first in which he was able to express himself, which made the writing process less onerous and more intuitive. He always wrote the text first, as the illustrations were the easy part for him. But part of the genius of these books is the way that he integrated text and drawings across the pages. He knew that young children derive as much meaning from the pictures as the written word, and he managed to always pick the most salient parts of the story to illustrate. Without his beautifully detailed drawings, rendered in muted green and brown tones, Frog and Toad’s personalities could not have come to life. And the layout of the pages in these books is often unappreciated. Lobel likened each page to film scene cuts: while each is part of the fabric of the story, each can stand on its own merits. And many parts of the stories feature illustrations that span facing pages to provide continuity for the text.

Fifty years later, we feel a sense of the timelessness found in the Frog and Toad stories. These tales of two great friends experiencing life’s everyday challenges and triumphs together, married with warm illustrations focused on home and nature, create a world that hasn’t aged over time. As a result, the appreciation for the authenticity and relatability that Lobel put into these little stories has spanned generations of enthusiastic readers. Parents can share the joy and nostalgia of these precious childhood memories, knowing that their children will be just as charmed and enraptured with Frog and Toad’s adventures as they were.

Not surprisingly, the ageless landscape that Frog and Toad inhabit was quite intentional:

“Everybody can relate to Frog and Toad because they don’t exist in this world. And I’m very careful in the stories not to make any direct allusions to modern life. That’s something I just sense not to do. Frog and Toad don’t call each other on the telephone. Toad takes a walk, and he visits Frog. He could, I suppose, pick up the telephone and call, but that would be too much, the world would be too much with them. And I do that purposely because I feel that it really creates a wider audience.” 
—Arnold Lobel