Review # 99: "My Dad Ran Over a Frog" by Rob Portlock

When my children were little we had a tradition. Starting sometime after Thanksgiving, I would bring out the basket of Christmas books. Every night it would be someone's turn to choose one. Would it be "The Gingerbread Man," "Twas the Night Before Christmas," or "the Littlest Angel"? Or would it be "My Dad Ran Over a Frog" A Christmas Story by Rob Portlock?


The review goes like this:

This book is narrated by character Woody, the middle child of a "regular" suburban family.
On the way home from picking up a Christmas Tree on Christmas Eve, Woody's Dad runs over a frog. The family takes the frog into their home, against the warnings of their neighbors, and finds out that helping a hurt frog can be very rewarding to both the frog and the family.
There are some things that the audience, who is presumably in the 3 - 10 year old range, must overlook. For instance, while it is nice that the family takes in the frog, the author seems to forget that it is the family that caused the frog's injuries by running him over. Also, at one point in the story the Dad says they should feel good about helping a hurt homeless frog. How does Dad know this frog was homeless? He could have been going home when he was so carelessly mowed down.
That is just speculation, of course. The frog seems perfectly happy to be amongst his new friends, and finds a way to repay them for their kindness.
I think this book would be better if the family had helped a frog that had been hurt in some other way or by some other family, but even still, I do really like this book. It is a different, quirky story, bizarre and so happy in ending, that I can't wait to read it every year. Fortunately I always have a 3 - 10 year old on hand to read it to.
Sound really hokey? Yeah it is. But I love it anyway.