Thursday 27 June 2013

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Frog Is Frog - I Simply Like Myself by Max Velthuijs



This is a an excellent story book introduced to me by my Chinese friend, YL. It teaches children to love themselves in an entertaining and endearing way through a simple story about a frog who wanted to be like his friends Duck, which could fly, Pig, which could bake a cake. In the process, he learns to appreciate his own uniqueness as a frog.

The English title is called "Frog Is Frog" written and illustrated by Max Velthuijs, a Dutch author, who wrote a series of children books portraying the growing up of Frog and his experiences. The Chinese version translated the title to "I Simply Like Myself" which I think is a more fitting to the story than the English title.

I particularly like this book and all his books on the series on Frog. J loves all the books too. However, if you have a limited budget, and need to only pick a book, then I will suggest to pick this book. The Danish version can be borrowed for free from the Danish library.

It brings to mind the famous words of Albert Einstein which this story book illustrated very well:

"Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."

I wished I had read this with JN while he was visiting us in Copenhagen recently. I have been reading this book to J since he was 3 years old, and I read to him again this evening. He could understand more and more now. He acted like the frog learning how to fly and not succeeding:


You can find the English version from Amazon UK here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Frog-Max-Velthuijs/dp/1849391173/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1372367455&sr=8-4&keywords=Max+Velthuijs

You can read more about this talented Dutch author here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/28/books/28velthuijs.html?pagewanted=print&position=


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