City Dog, Country Frog

              By Mo Willems and Illustrated by Jon J Muth

This is my favorite book to use when teaching a lesson on  friendship, the seasons, or dealing with loss. This is not your typical Mo Willems children's book. Willems is often associated with humor, silliness, and the use of simplicity to convey a message. City Dog, Country Frog does not contain these attributes. Hard themes such as lonliness, change and grief are inertwined with uplifting ones including friendship, loyalty, hope and "rebirth." The complexity of emotion reflected in the book and experienced by the reader is anything but "simple."

The book is sectioned into four parts labeled as the seasons Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. Willems uses this layout to convey the setting and the movement through time. The first half of the book, Spring and Summer center around the friendship of the dog and frog. The mood in these sections is playful, positive, and energetic. The dog meets the frog and both characters accept the each other's friendship unconditionally. They teach each other games and activities appealing to their own abilities (the dog teaches the frog to play fetch while the frog teaches the dog to hop around on lilly pads). At the end of the summer section, Willems uses foreshadowing to hint at future events in the plot. The frog getting tired at the end of the summer mirrors his "life cycle" end which occurs during the second half of the book. Younger children may completely miss this hint at first, but if read to several times, they most likely will recognize it. 

The second half of the book, Fall and Winter brings upon the slow demise of the character the frog. The frog is too tired to play active games but is still able to play "memory games" with the dog.  The dog humbly comforts the frog and again, accepts his friendship just the way it is, and spends this season reminiscing with the frog about the good times they have had all year. The Winter is the bleakest season of all in the story. The dog tries to find the frog but the pond is iced over and he is nowhere to be found.  The dog spends most of the season looking for his friend while experiencing loneliness and sadness. The last season of the book, the following Spring, reflects hope and new beginnings. The dog finds a new friend, a squirrel and both accept each other's friendship.  The dog misses the frog at first, but eventually accepts change and new opportunities. 

The illustrations represent the themes and mood within each season section.  The summer, fall, and spring sections are displayed with a light, colorful palette and tone. The fall and winter months contain darker and richer tones to represent the setting, events, and feelings of the characters. Nature is prevalent in every section. Muth's use of watercolor ties into the book's aspects of nature and light-hearted friendship message.