A clutch of lovely picture books about our amphibious friends have hopped through my letterbox recently. Prepare to learn plenty of froggy facts to fascinate your friends.

‘Fanatical About Frogs,’ by Owen Davey (Flying Eye Books)

Flying Eye Books always produce stunning and stylish titles which appeal to the adult reader as much as the child.  Fanatical About Frogs is no exception! Illustrated in Owen Davey’s distinctive style, a whole army of amphibious characters are poised to leap off the pages.

Crammed with bucketloads of fascinating facts, on clearly presented pages, I learnt a lot whilst reading! I finally understand how a frog’s tongue gets sticky, have learnt about the warning markings of different types of poison dart frogs, and learn about the ‘punk-rocker’ frog whose skin can go from smooth to spiky in a few minutes! 8+

’Leap Frog,’ by Jane Clarke and Britta Teckentrup (Nosy Crow)

Felix the little tree frog is lost and every noise is making him very jumpy. Join him on his journey through the jungle – what creatures will you spot? Will Felix find someone very special to help him settle down for bedtime?

This is a brilliant book which encourages readers to engage and interact from the outset. Shout, clap and count your way through the pages whilst learning about the animals you might find on the jungle floor and the features of a tree frog which make it such a fantastic climber.

Britta Teckentrup’s bold illustrations sing from the pages with zingy pops of neon to catch the eye.  A joy. 3+

‘In the Swamp by the Light of the Moon,’ by Frann Preston-Gannon (Templar Books)

A lonely little frog is sitting in the swamp one night, singing by the light of the moon. Something about his song doesn’t sound quite right and singing by himself is no fun. Frog needs to find some more swamp voices to make his song complete.

This is a beautiful bedtime lullaby of a story which would be sure to help any little one drift off to sleep. The story builds with the song of the swamp as more and more voices rise together in a story about the importance of hearing everyone’s voice, regardless of how small. The illustrations  have a touch of twilight magic about them, as you would expect from Preston-Gannon. 3+

‘Rivers – A Visual History from River to Sea,’ by Peter Goes (Gecko Press)

Where there are rivers there are frogs, so I had to take this opportunity to let you know about this unique book about rivers. In this large-scale book, Peter Goes skilfully weaves together history, myth and wildlife.

With an introduction about the five oceans, the book is then organised into sections about each of the world’s continents.  Learn about the frozen rivers used as roads in Norway, discover where the world’s largest rodents reside and hear the centuries-old legend of the Mokèlé-mbèmbé (a huge creature dwelling in the River Congo.)

Just the book for dipping into and retrieving the perfect nugget of information or new fact every time. 8+

Prepare to frog-march yourself down to the bookshop to pick up one of these webbed beauties.

Library Girl.

*Many thanks to Gecko Press, Templar Books, Nosy Crow and Flying Eye Books for sending me these titles to review*