The stunning illustrations combined with Sally Morgan and Ezekial Kwaymullina's lyrical and expressive text, creates a picture book that will make you almost wish you were a real life frog, swimming through a cool, bubbly pond on a moonlit night.
Frog Finds a Place is the story of a little frog who one night dreams that he is with the moon and stars in the sky. Upon waking, he decides that he would in fact like to really be with the stars, so begins a quest to find his way up into the night sky.
He tries climbing to the moon, he tries swinging to the stars, he tries flying to the sky, but with each attempt he fails, falling back to his pond. Finally, he sees the moon reflected in the water and upon diving into the pond, realises that he can swim amongst the stars after all.
Like wading through a beautiful dream, Dub Leffler's water colour illustrations are soft and calming, perfectly capturing the contrasting light and darkness of a watery world touched by moonlight. With some illustrations taking up a whole double page spread and others cleverly using white space to appear in the shape of a lily pad, the story leaps along beautifully on artwork that manages to appear both realistic and magical all in the same breath.
Without being at all didactic, Frog Finds a Place is a wonderful reminder that dreams can really be reached and achieved, though perhaps not always in the way that you might have imagined.
Title: Frog Finds a Place
Author: Sally Morgan and Ezekial Kwaymullina
Illustrator: Dub Leffler
Publisher: Omnibus Books, $19.99
Publication Date: 1 November 2015
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9781742990231
For ages: 4-7
Type: Picture Book
