Skip to main content

Frog and Toad

 The writer Curtis Sittenfeld loves Toad because "he is the author of his own problems."

Toad could have an easy life, but he seems wedded to self-sabotage. Take the story about the swimsuit. Toad could avoid public humiliation, but he makes his vulnerability so obvious, it's as if he *commands* the village to laugh at him.

Take the story "Alone." Toad could accept Frog's note at face value. But Toad's neurosis leads to a dark night of the soul; Toad tortures himself.

In "Ice Cream," Toad runs off to get a treat. But he doesn't consider the distance of the journey, and he spills melting cream all over his face. The sugary mess attracts sticks, mud clumps, leaves. Witnesses--squirrels, chipmunks--conclude that a monster is on the loose. The story ends with a blind, "horned" Toad falling into a lake.

We all admire Lobel for his plotting. But let's take a moment to appreciate the drawings, as well. The cones like spikes sticking up from Toad's head. The chatty mouse, the intrigued and apprehensive frog. This is five-star art. (And it makes me think of James Marshall's stories of "difficult transit": Martha dropping a gift while sprinting, George chipping his tooth when he tries out some rollerblades.....)



Labels:

Comments

  1. KathyOctober 27, 2020 at 6:01 AM

    My mother knew Arnold Lobel (they met at PEN) and he told her once, that his kids bought him a gorilla suit for some birthday, and my mother asked him if he ever wore it - he said that he used to go around Prospect Park in the suit. She asked him how others reacted, and he said "they just say 'There goes Arnie in his gorilla suit'"! I always loved picturing that... the zaniness in him, that came through so many of his stories. I'll hold onto those books forever...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ReaderOctober 27, 2020 at 7:07 AM

      Thank you for that story! Actually the gorilla suit reminds me of Toad-the-monster in "Ice Cream." I wish there were a biography of Lobel (maybe I haven't come across something that already exists) ....

      Delete
    2. KathyOctober 27, 2020 at 8:24 AM

      I haven't seen anything either - it would be a great read, however!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Host a Baby

-You have assumed responsibility for a mewling, puking ball of life, a yellow-lab pup. He will spit his half-digested kibble all over your shoes, all over your hard-cover edition of Jennifer Haigh's novel  Faith . He will eat your tables, your chairs, your "I {Heart] Montessori" magnet, placed too low on the fridge. When you try to watch Bette Davis in  Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte , on your TV, your dog will bark through the murder-prologue, for no apparent reason. He will whimper through Lena Dunham's  Girls , such that you have to rewind several times to catch every nuance of Andrew Rannells's ad-libbing--and, still, you'll have a nagging suspicion you've missed something. Your dog will poop on the kitchen floor, in the hallway, between the tiny bars of his crate. He'll announce his wakefulness at 5 AM, 2 AM, or while you and another human are mid-coitus. All this, and you get outside, and it's: "Don't let him pee on my tulips!" When...
3 comments
Read more

Joshie

  When I was growing up, a class birthday involved Hostess cupcakes. Often, the cupcakes would come in a shoebox, so you could taste a leathery residue (during the party). Times change. You can't bring a treat into a public school, in 2024, because heaven knows what kind of allergies might lurk, in unseen corners, in the classroom. But Joshua's teacher will allow: a dance party, a pajama day, or a guest reader. I chose to bring a story for Joshua's birthday (observed), but I didn't think through the role that anxiety might play in this interaction. We talk, in this house, quite a bit about anxiety; one game-changer, for J, has been a daily list of activities, so that he knows exactly what to expect. He gets a look of profound satisfaction when he sees the agenda; it doesn't really matter what the specific events happen to be. It's just about knowing, "I can anticipate X, Y, and Z." Joshua struggled with his celebration. He wore his nervousness on his f...
2 comments
Read more

Josh at Five

 Joshie's project is "flexibility"; the goal is to see that a plan is just an idea, not a gospel, not a guarantee. This is difficult. Yesterday, we went to a restaurant--billed as "open," with unlocked doors--and the owner informed us of an "error in advertising." But Joshie couldn't accept the word "closed." He threw himself on the floor, then climbed on the furniture. I felt for the owner, until he nervously made a reference to "the glass windows." He imagined that my child might toss himself through a sealed window, like Mary Katherine Gallagher, or like Bruce Willis, in "Die Hard." Then--thank the Lord!--I was able to laugh. The thing that really has therapeutic value for Joshie is: a firetruck. If we are out in public, and he spots a parked truck, he wants to climb on each surface. He breathlessly alludes to the wheels, the door, the windows. If an actual fire station ("fire ocean," in Joshie's parla...
Post a Comment
Read more