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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.....)



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  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...

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    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) ....

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    2. KathyOctober 27, 2020 at 8:24 AM

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

      Delete

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