Author: Mercer Mayer
Title: Frog Goes to Dinner
Illustrator: Mercer Mayer
Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers
Year:1974
Genre: Picture Book
Format: Hardcover
Reading Level: Emergent
Interest Level: Pre-k, early elementary
Topics: Dinner, family, frogs
Summary: This book is about a little boy who dresses up to go out to eat at a fancy restaurant with his family. This little boy has three pets. His pets include: a dog, turtle, and a frog. When the boy is leaving his room to join his family, his pet frog jumps in the boy's pocket of his jacket. The boy puts the jacket on without knowing his pet frog is in his pocket. The little boy and his family go out to eat. The frog tags along in the boy's pocket. At dinner the frog decides to make an appearance and jumps all over the dinner table, into people's food, and into drinks. The little boy's mother is very upset and embarrassed by her son. The frog causes a lot of distress and makes a mess at the fancy diner. The family leaves the restaurant very upset. The little boy is sent straight to his room. His mother is very angry with him because she thinks the boy purposely brought the frog along to dinner. The boy and the frog are sent to the boy's room and sit together. In the end, they are secretly happy with one another smiling and laughing. This picture book has amazing pictures with great detail. There are no words in this book, but I could follow the story line perfectly because of the pictures.
Extension Activity: Teacher could supply coloring worksheets of the frog in the story. Each worksheet would have the frog doing something different. The children could use their own opinion when choosing which coloring picture they want. The kids would be assigned to use water color paints and they could paint the frog however they liked. These pictures could be hung in the classroom. Good activity to do during an animal unit- it is a funny story and a great extension activity to keep kids engaged.
