By Mouse and Frog

Starred review from February 16, 2015
Mouse and Frog are avid storytellers. But the careful, deliberate Mouse has in mind a solo project—a tightly focused sketch of domestic life (“Once upon a time... in a quiet little home, Mouse woke up early and set the table”)—while Frog is eager to collaborate on a sprawling, mostly incoherent epic involving a king, a dragon and lots of ice cream. It’s a clash of creative wills and methods, which Freedman (The Story of Fish and Snail) portrays by having her protagonists draw their subject matter as they narrate it. Frog’s ideas quickly (and literally) overwhelm Mouse, but the rodent’s friendship clearly means a lot, and in one of many funny scenes, Frog sadly but dutifully erases his contributions, and solemnly tells his characters, “This story is Mouse’s.” But maybe a partnership isn’t out of the question: Mouse’s gift for structure and restraint and Frog’s boundless imagination could create something wonderful. Wearing its metafictionality lightly and told largely through dialogue that begs for performance, Freedman’s story speaks to power of creative passion and the rewards of playing well with others. Ages 3–5. Agent: Stephen Barr, Writers House.

February 15, 2015
Mouse wants to tell a simple, gentle story, but Frog bounces in and stirs it up.With metafiction crowding picture-book shelves these days, each new piece needs to earn its place, and this one does. On the opening endpapers, Mouse stands on a ladder painting the page's off-white, textured drawing paper a smooth, glossy white. "Once upon a time," Mouse begins, sketching in pencil, "Mouse woke up early and set the table..."-"For F-r-r-o-o-g-g!" yells Frog in large type, leaping jubilantly onto the page from above. The conflict's set: Mouse wants to tell-and draw-a calm, domestic story about tea, while Frog wants a king, a dragon and "elevendy-seven" flavors of ice cream. He bundles these elements and more into a breathless stream-of-consciousness plot with tumbling highlights from nursery rhymes, children's literature (stinky cheese, chicken soup, a bus-driving request) and breakfast cereal (or perhaps Elvis: "frankooberry mush"). Mouse screams "STOP!" amid an explosion of narrative images. Freedman renders Mouse, Frog, bits from their stories and most of the ensuing mess in watercolor, gouache, pencil and pastel; the stories under construction are largely dark gray pencil. The conflict's crescendo is a visual whirlwind, the penciled king and dragon crashing and splashing down into watery paint alongside Frog and Mouse. Luckily, Frog finds the pencil's eraser, and the pals find a sunny compromise. An elegant, exuberant portrayal of stylistic differences and child-writer passion. (Picture book. 4-8)

January 1, 2015

PreS-K-Freedman ventures into the realm of metafiction once again with this whimsical friendship tale. Pencil in paw, Mouse starts to create a quiet story about having tea, its gray line drawings becoming "real" a la Crockett Johnson's Harold and the Purple Crayon. To Mouse's great consternation, enthusiastic Frog jumps in to help with colorful ideas of its own. Soon, the orderly tea party is overrun by melting ice cream, a king, and even a dragon. Frog's suggestions reach a crescendo in an entire page of amalgamated quotes from children's classics "May I bring a friend? Can I drive the bus? I think I can-I think I can," causing the exasperated Mouse to shout "Stop!" and send all the drawing elements exploding all over the page. Two friends then work out a compromise, jointly creating a vibrant magical garden laid out across a spread. Freedman's delicate watercolor, gouache, pastel, and pencil illustrations delight with gentle humor, such as Frog and Mouse wondering, just "Who is Deborah Freedman?" They are, however, oddly out of sync with the story, as when the text says that Mouse is writing the story but the illustrations consistently show Mouse and Frog drawing. David Wiesner's Art and Max (Clarion, 2010) and Susanna Gretz's Riley and Rose in the Picture (Candlewick, 2005) explore the intersection of friendship, art, and breaking the fourth wall with more finesse, but with its timeless message about the importance of sharing and collaboration, this title will be welcome in most larger collections where such books are in demand.-Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY

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