A thought-provoking picture book that tells a story of a frog and a mouse who start a war over a flower. A fierce battle ensues devastating the landscape around them leaving both the frog and mouse to reflect on the question, “Why?”

Why, is a wordless picture book on the futility of war. The story communicates its message with beautiful pastel images of the countryside populated with gentle looking frogs and mice. Through the pictures you see how a small conflict can lead to devastating consequences. This is the perfect book to use with young students to talk about conflict resolution and how to use is effectively in everyday life. This goes in hand with an issue that is taking place currently; too many actions are taken without anyone really speaking. ( )

This is a satire, and while I recognize that this is not one of the genre's we studied, it deserves some attention for this book. The book is wordless, but the pages show a frog sitting by himself when a rat surfaces and attacks the frog. More frogs come to his aid, and soon, a war between rats and frogs emerges, exchanging shots for shots and sabotage for sabotage. At the end, it shows the original frog and rat sitting on the destroyed land with their back to each other, the wreckage all around. It is satire because it uses a story to show a political or structural problem. Could be used to discuss the effects of war in class. ( )

This was an interesting book, with a strong meaningful message. In this book, a frog is sitting next to a flower, when out of nowhere, an umbrella wielding mouse comes and steals his flower. Eventually, the two get into a large battle until both the flower and umbrella are destroyed. This book is written from the perspective of an animal, and fits very well with the intended theme of this text set; that often times nobody wins fights. ( )

This picture book makes the reader ask Why? Why was the mouse so naughty? Why did other frogs get involved with out being asked? Why were they fighting over a flower? The author describes his feeling about war during WWII and after. Children don't understand the ugliness and futility of war. ( )

Genre: Historic Fiction

Review: This is a great example of Historic Fiction because it is based off of the German invasion on Russia. While there are no words and this is not directly said in the story, the author note helps us reflect on the images we saw. Upon first glance this story is the battle between Frogs and Mice but deep down it refers to some very intense times in history.

Style: This story has a unique style in that it is presented without words. It allows the reader a chance to digest the actions that are taking place and concentrate on critical reading. It is consistently wordless throughout the story but the pictures accurately reflect the emotion that the author/illustrator is trying to present.

Media: Watercolor and Pen ( )

This haunting, wordless book is about a frog sitting on a rock happily with his flower, who gets attacked by a mouse. Then the frog’s friends come and attack the mouse. Then the mouse’s friends come and attack the frog, and the war escalates until what was once peaceful surroundings are blown to pieces. This is a metaphor for war in human life, and shows how meaningless it is, and the damage it can cause. The illustrations are both adorable and frightening because the frog is so cute and you see all his cute friends, but they are at war with the mice and doing horrible things. This book is amazing for ages 8 and up, and is a great conversation piece for the pointlessness of war.

media: Watercolor and pen
genre: fantasy fiction
age appropriateness: primary and secondary ( )

Wordless picture book about violence and war.

Media: Watercolor
Use: Peace, War, Working Together
Critique: This is an interesting example of a fantasy. The animals do not talk but the pictures speak volumes. The ideas of war and peace and acceptance are looked at. They are exemplified through the illustrations and can teach a big lesson in simple ways. ( )

One of the few, & one of the best books for children concerning the cold war. ( )