Days with Frog and Toad — Chapter 3

About This Passage

Selected because Lobel ends the story with a sentence almost no other writer would use: "It was a good warm feeling." The reader has just learned that Frog and Toad are scared, and now we are told the scared feeling is good. Lobel teaches dialogue-free storytelling here — five short sentences with strong verbs and one quiet contradiction at the end. The copywork lesson is the comma after "close by the fire" and the way short sentences let the reader feel each picture before the next one arrives.

Narration Prompt

Tell someone what happened in this story in order. When you get to the most important part, slow down and tell it carefully — what happened, why it mattered, and what you think about it.

Discussion Questions

1. Toad asks Frog three different times if the story is real. The first time Frog says, "Maybe yes and maybe no." The second time Frog says, "Maybe it did and maybe it didn't." The third time Frog says, "Maybe it was and maybe it wasn't." Why does Frog keep giving the same answer instead of just saying yes or no? What in the story makes you think so?
2. Frog asks Toad, "Don't you like to be scared? Don't you like to feel the shivers?" Toad says, "I'm not too sure." Then Frog tells the story anyway. Was it kind of Frog to tell the scary story when his friend was not sure he wanted to hear it? What in the story makes you think so?

+ 2 more questions in the complete study guide