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

The Death of Bergoglio

  It's frustrating for me to hear Bergoglio described as "the less awful pope"--because awful is still awful. I think I get fixated on ideas of purity, which can be juvenile, but putting that aside, here are some things that Bergoglio could have done and did not. (I'm quoting from a survivor of sexual abuse at the hands of the Church.) He could levy the harshest penalty, excommunication, against a dozen or more of the most egregious abuse enabling church officials. (He's done this to no enablers, or predators for that matter.) He could insist that every diocese and religious order turn over every record they have about suspected and known abusers to law enforcement. Francis could order every prelate on the planet to post on his diocesan website the names of every proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting cleric. (Imagine how much safer children would be if police, prosecutors, parents and the public knew the identities of these potentially dangerous me...
1 comment
Read more

Raymond Carver: "What's in Alaska?"

Outside, Mary held Jack's arm and walked with her head down. They moved slowly on the sidewalk. He listened to the scuffing sounds her shoes made. He heard the sharp and separate sound of a dog barking and above that a murmuring of very distant traffic.  She raised her head. "When we get home, Jack, I want to be fucked, talked to, diverted. Divert me, Jack. I need to be diverted tonight." She tightened her hold on his arm. He could feel the dampness in that shoe. He unlocked the door and flipped the light. "Come to bed," she said. "I'm coming," he said. He went to the kitchen and drank two glasses of water. He turned off the living-room light and felt his way along the wall into the bedroom. "Jack!" she yelled. "Jack!" "Jesus Christ, it's me!" he said. "I'm trying to get the light on." He found the lamp, and she sat up in bed. Her eyes were bright. He pulled the stem on the alarm and b...
1 comment
Read more