31 Days of Reading in Spanish: Froggy y su papá

Editor’s note: We continue with our 31 Days of Reading in Spanish. Check out the book review below and don’t forget to enter our weekly GIVEAWAY of $100 worth of books in Spanish! This is the last week, so you have until July 31 to enter.

BOOK DESCRIPTION/REVIEW

I’ve found some children’s books in Spanish that are so beautiful they take my breath away. I spend a small fortune on them…then many of them sit on the bookshelf, unread, until I eventually concede defeat and get rid of them in a fit of de-cluttering.

Froggy y su papá is not one of those books, but it fits neatly in my new philosophy when it comes to children’s books: I don’t care what my kids are reading, as long as they’re reading. And one of my sons has latched onto the Froggy series. I found this one at a yard sale, and it’s been such a hit I’ve picked up a few more of the books. If you’re familiar with the original, the text is repetitive (with lots of yelling, “Frooooggggyy!”), there are fun sounds — ¡toink!–¡ta-chán! — that we love to yell out loud together. It’s Father’s Day, and Froggy drops his father’s breakfast, bonks his father on the head while playing mini-golf, and makes a hole-in-one. It’s not one of those books I would covet if I saw it at the bookstore. But my son adores it — and what’s more, his Spanish reading skills have improved remarkably since we started reading this series. And that makes Froggy okay in my book.

   BOOK DETAILS

   Title: Froggy y su papá

   Author: Jonathan London

   Illustrator: Frank Remkiewicz

   Ages: 3-7 years

   Publisher/Year: Scholastic/2004

   ISBN: 0-439-76557-9

   Price: Varies (Used copies on Amazon; $3.71 in Scholastic’s Club Leo)