Need to Belong: Frog and Toad All Year

Frog and Toad All Year
Arnold Lobel
Harper Collins (1976)

The need to belong is a big one!   In fact, I think many adults are still searching for that basic sense of belonging, myself included. I just left Mirette at her co-op preschool and was driving home thinking how I feel safe, secure and well-liked around that group of parents.  I feel like they all know and care about Mirette.  And in the car she said to me,  "I know teacher Emma loves me and I love her."  Wow!   What better feeling is there! 

According to Zena Sutherland, the author of Children and Books 9th Edition ,books about belonging help children to identify their place in the world.   They can range from being a warm and cozy book about friendship to a challenging situation where a character has to search for that sense of belonging.

This winter break, Mirette and I went to see the play Frog and Toad at the Seattle Children's Theater.  It was fantastic and we talk about it all the time now.  Mirette will tell complete strangers that she attended this play.

What better book to show the sense of belonging.  Toad is ornery,  Frog is warm.  Frog never seems to get too annoyed.  He doesn't call his other friends and complain or gossip.  He seems to like Toad just for who he is.    Their love for each other is best exemplified when they each set off to rake the others lawn as an act of kindness and generosity.    How could they feel alone in the world when Frog has Toad and Toad has Frog. 

Arnold Lobel (1933-1987) lived in New York State and was a sickly kid often out of school.  He started drawing as a way to connect with other kids. He met his wife Anita in school who was also a very talented artist.    Frog and Toad are said to be two parts of his personality.  Sadly, he died of cardiac arrest when he was 54.