My oldest son, Zach, collected these colorful plastic tree frogs. He'd cart them around in his big, yellow dump truck. Using his Fisher-Price Wild West Town and Pirate ship he'd pretend they were cowboys and pirates. Sometimes, he'd stack pillows on the couch and the frogs would scale the pillow mountain to defeat the evil emperor.
I loved watching him play. He had a wonderful imagination and it was a joy to witness the worlds he created. With all of the bells and whistles kids have today, I worry that such imaginative play is becoming a thing of the past. And that makes me sad.
Here's a recording of this story that I always thought would make a great picture book because it lends itself to a plethora of colorful illustrations. I think writing a picture book is incredibly difficult. People think they're easy because you're writing for kids (How hard can that be, right?). They couldn't be more wrong. Capturing a child's attention with an economy of words and keeping the book moving is so, so hard.
I hope you enjoy this story. And, who knows? Maybe one day it will become a picture book.
Below the recording is the story:
One Frog. Two Frogs.
Three Frogs. Four.
By Buffy Andrews
“One
frog.
Two frogs.
Three frogs.
Four.
Tree frogs, tree frogs, I want more.”
…
Sam sang as he played with his colorful collection.
He
had blue ones
and
red ones
and
yellow ones
and
green ones.
Spotted
ones
and
striped ones.
Ones with claw-shaped fingers and toes
and others with webbed hands and feet.
They
rode in the back of his big, yellow dump truck.
Battled
bullies in his Wild West town.
Defended
his medieval castle and sailed on his pirate ship.
And
sometimes, if they were really brave, they scaled pillow mountains and defeated
the evil emperor.
But,
most often, they found their way into the tub where they bathed in berry
bubbles.
…
“One
frog.
Two frogs.
Three frogs.
Four.
Tree frogs, tree frogs, I want more”
…
Sam
could hardly wait for Friday. That’s when he and his mother went to the grocery
store. And that’s where the tree frogs lived – inside a bubblegum machine!
Each day, Sam asked his mother if it
was Friday and each day his mother said no.
So he waited,
And he waited,
And he waited some more.
And while he waited, he
Swung on his swing and ate ice cream.
Flew his kite and rode his bike.
Climbed a tree and skinned his knee.
And just when Sam thought Friday would
never come, he closed his sleepy eyes, and when he woke up, it was
FRIDAY!
Sam jumped and clapped and shouted “hooray”!
It was Tree Frog Day!
…
“One
frog.
Two frogs.
Three frogs.
Four.
Tree frog, tree frogs, I want more”
…
When Sam saw the bubblegum machine, he jumped and clapped and
smiled. But then he saw the can on the counter and he didn’t feel like smiling
anymore. There was a picture of a girl just about his age in a wheelchair.
Sam
thought about his classmate Zoey. She used a wheelchair. Zoey couldn’t run or
jump or skip or skate.
Sam
stuffed his hand into his pocket and pulled out a fist of shiny silver.
He looked at the frogs peeking through
the glass in the bubblegum machine and then at the little girl’s picture on the
can.
He opened his fist to count his coins then walked over to the can.
Plunk!
Plunk!
Plunk!
Plunk!
The yellow dump truck and the Wild
West town and the medieval castle and the pirate ship and the pillow mountains
and the evil emperor and the berry bubbles would have to wait a little longer
for new frog friends.
And
so would Sam.
…
“One
frog.
Two frogs.
Three frogs.
Four
I love tree frogs but I’ll wait to get more.”
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