Days with Frog and Toad — Chapter 3

About This Passage

Selected for the strange final sentence — "It was a good warm feeling" — that flatly contradicts what the four sentences before it have just established. Lobel does not explain the contradiction; he simply leaves it on the page for the reader to feel. The copywork lesson is in the rhythm: short, declarative, picture-by-picture, with no transitions and no commentary. Trying to imitate this style teaches a writer how much can be carried by what is left out.

Narration Prompt

In your own words, tell the story of this chapter. What were the most important moments? What made them important — and how do you know?

Discussion Questions

1. The story is built like a sandwich: the outside layer is Frog and Toad in Toad's house, and the inside layer is Frog's tale about his childhood encounter with the Old Dark Frog. Why does Lobel use this nested structure instead of just telling the ghost story directly? What does the outer layer give us that an unframed ghost story would not?
2. Toad asks three different times whether the story is true — and gets the same answer every time. Frog refuses to choose. What does this tell us about how Frog understands the way stories should be told to someone who is half-frightened and half-curious?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide