cover image The Wide-Mouthed Frog: A Pop-Up Book

The Wide-Mouthed Frog: A Pop-Up Book

Keith Faulkner. Dial Books, $14.99 (16pp) ISBN 978-0-8037-1875-3

A curious frog goes a bit too far when querying his neighbors about their eating habits in this simplified, pop-up version of a traditional American tale. ""I'm a wide-mouthed frog and I eat flies,"" he announces, demonstrating in flamboyant, 3-D splendor just how he got the appellation ""wide-mouthed."" Each spread features a different animal describing its meal of choice, including a blue-feathered bird (worms and slugs), a furry brown mouse (seeds and berries) and, finally, ominously, a big, green alligator. The creatures are depicted in sunny colors and and show off uncomplicated but large, well-constructed pop-up beaks, whiskers and snouts. When the alligator answers that he eats ""delicious wide-mouthed frogs,"" Frog's comical response, resulting in a climactic fold-out ""Splash!"" will have readers giggling aloud. Ages 2-6. (Mar.)