Kes Gray’s 2014 picture book Frog on a Log? is wonderful nonsense of a sort much more common in children’s books than adult literature. The title sums up the entire idea: it is a rhyming book, with a question built in: do frogs have to sit on logs?
According to a rather bossy cat, the answer is yes, because all animals have to sit on things that they rhyme with. So frogs must sit on logs, cats and only cats sit on mats, hares on chairs, and so on.
This immediately establishes a pattern and an expectation: kids can project ahead and wonder what animals will show up, and what rhyming words they’ll have to sit on.
Jim Field’s images are essential to the book’s appeal. They are colorful, and show animals twisted, posed, and sitting in ridiculous ways and places.
And there’s a nice reversal at the end.
