The Big Wide-Mouthed Frog; Mission Ziffoid
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Cover Story
This issue’s cover is from Edward Ardizzone’s Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain. Brian Alderson discusses this classic picture book, now reissued in a beautiful new edition by Scholastic in ‘Classics in Short’. Thanks to Scholastic Children’s Books for their help in producing this January cover.
The Big Wide-Mouthed Frog
Mission Ziffoid
Arthur Robins
These two titles are from a set of some two dozen ‘Giggle Club’ books, ‘made to put a giggle into early reading’, and good value at £1.99 apiece. There is a nice feeling of ‘belonging’ – the books have space to write your name in the front, a joke loosely related to the story, and a checklist of titles to tick off as you read.
The Big Wide-Mouthed Frog is a traditional tale with a repetitive structure, illustrated with cheerful, if at times crudely drawn, cut-outs. The eponymous frog bounces up to all sorts of animals and asks them ‘Who are you, and what do you eat?’, until he meets a crocodile whose answer turns him into a small, narrow-mouthed frog… Mission Ziffoid tells an appealing tall story in ‘good news/bad news’ format. Perhaps not quite as hilarious as the blurb suggests, but good fun nevertheless, appropriately illustrated.
Despite the minor irritation that the ‘house-style’ chosen for the ‘welcome’ page and the joke is at odds with the illustration in either of these examples, I feel that they achieve their stated aim and could make a welcome addition to school or home collections.