Frog and Toad come visiting during Lent on three Wednesday evenings (March 12, 19, 26, 7pm Parish House) that are guaranteed to be entertaining and enlightening. Frog and Toad are the main characters in a series of easy-reader children’s books, written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel during the 1970’s.
Lobel was mainly an illustrator but this series he also wrote. Each book contains five simple, often humorous, sometimes poignant, short stories chronicling the exploits of a frog and his friend, a toad.
Frog is taller, with a green shade, and is more friendly and relaxed than Toad; Toad is shorter and stout, with a brown shade and also the more serious and uptight of the duo.
In our first week in the story "The Garden", we will join Frog and Toad in delving into the Lenten themes of what it means to wait patiently in a world in which we expect instant results.
"And lead us not into temptation," we pray together when we say the Lord’s prayer. In the story "Cookies," in our second week of this series, Frog and Toad gorge the delicious cookies that Toad has made. As Frog and Toad eat cookie after cookie, we will find ourselves reflecting on times of testing and temptation in our own lives.Refreshments will be served.
Finally in the third week, we’ll experience the ups and downs of living in community, and how communities can be empowered by positive effort and persistence.
Scripture and theology will be part of our study as well during each week.
The Frog and Toad books, in order of publication date, are: Frog and Toad are Friends (1970), Frog and Toad Together (1972), Frog and Toad All Year (1976), Days with Frog and Toad (1979)
How did Lobel come to write these books ? Here is a short biography.
To get a flavor of Frog and Toad, there are a number of Frog and Toad stories narrated on "Youtube":
1 . "Cookies"
2. "Tomorrow"
Frog and Toad are timeless. Here’s an an example of a new story from an elementary school class:
3. "Frog and Toad Get an iPad "
What can Frog and Toad teach us about how to grow as Christians during Lent ?
No matter our age we all have something to learn with Frog and Toad.