City Dog, Country Frog
By: Williams, Mo
Illustrated By: Muth, Jon J
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Copyright: 2010
Art Medium: water colors and colored pencils
Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction, Animal Story
Lifeskills: caring, friendship, curiosity
SYNOPSIS: City Dog visits the country and makes friends with a frog. During the
spring they play frog games. During the summer they play dog games. During the fall
they remember the fun they had during the spring and summer. When City Dog visits in
the winter his friend the frog is gone. When City Dog returns in the spring he becomes
friends with chipmunk.
BOOKTALK: This is a story about two unlikely friends. They can’t wait to see each
other when city dog visits each season. A very touching ending to this story that
teaches a life lesson.
AUTHOR:
Mo Williams
Mo Willems was raised in New Orleans. He graduated cum laude from New York
University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He worked from 1993 to January 2002 as a writer
and animator with Sesame Street, winning 6 Emmy Awards. While with Sesame Street
he also performed stand-up comedy in New York City. Since 2003, Willems has
authored numerous books for young children and created two animated series: the
“Off-Beats” for Nickelodeon’s Kablam and “Sheep in the Big City” for Cartoon Network.
He currently resides in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Other books written by the author:
Cat the Cat Series
Elephant and Piggie Series
Kunffle Bunny Series
Pigeon Series
ILLUSTRATOR:
Jon J Muth
Jon J. Muth is not only an accomplished illustrator, but also an world renowned
children’s author, with his books translated into more than 10 different languages. Born
and raised in Cincinatti, Ohio, he was obviously greatly influenced by his mother who
was an art teacher. "My work in children's books really grew out of a desire to explore
what I was feeling as a new father," states Muth. Muth, his wife and four children live in
upstate New York.
Other books illustrated by the illustrator:
The Christmas Magic
No Dogs Allowed!, Swamp Thing: Roots
Why I Will Never Ever Ever Ever Have Enough Time to Read This Book
Zen Shorts
CHALLENGING WORDS (pronunciation, spelling, defining):
leash, admire, remembered, favor
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. What do you think brought the city dog to the country each season?
2. Why didn’t country frog show up at the end of the story?
3. What would country frog do in the city if he visited city dog?
4. Why is it important to have friends?
5. Why is it important to make new friend?
6. Are frog and dog good friends to each other? Why?
7. Is dog sad when frog is gone? Why and what does he do?
8. Why do you think the dog was in the country?
9. What happened to the frog during winter?
10. Why do both frog and dog say, while looking for a friend, "you'll do"?
11. How was the being of the story like the end of the story?
12. What was the difference between the spring and summer games that Dog and
Frog played?
13. Why do you think they took turns on the type of games they played?
14. Why did they play the remember-ing games in the fall?
ACTIVITIES:
Language Arts:
○
○
Have student create a Venn Diagram comparing city dog and country frog.
■
CORE STANDARD 3 Literary Text: Comprehension and Analysis
Compare diff erent stories and poems, including the meaning or
lesson of each text. Standard Indicators: 2.3.1, 2.3.3, 2.3.7
Write a story about a friend and an activity you two would do. Use
descriptive and sequencing words
■CORE STANDARD 5 Writing: Literary Text Create a list of ideas for
writing. Write brief narratives, poems and descriptions that follow a
recognizable sequence and contain descriptive details. Revise
writing to improve sequence, to add descriptive detail, and to make
language clearer. Standard Indicators: 2.4.1, 2.4.2, 2.4.6, 2.4.8,
2.5.1, 2.5.2, 2.5.4, 2.5.5, 2.5.6
○
○
○
Have students sequence events. Use the activity sheet at the end of this
evaluation.
■
CORE STANDARD 3 Literary Text: Comprehension and Analysis
Identify and describe the plot (e.g., beginning, middle and end),
setting and characters of a story. Make and confirm predictions
about what will happen next in a story. Standard Indicators: 1.3.1,
1.3.3, 1.3.5
Have students answer who, what, when, where, and why questions. Use
the activity sheet listed at the end of this evaluation
■
CORE STANDARD 2 Informational Text: Structure,
Comprehension and Analysis Use titles, tables of contents, and
chapter headings to identify central ideas or topics. Make
cause/eff ect connections and identify common words that indicate
when events happened in a sequence (e.g., first, next, last). Ask
and respond to questions to aid comprehension. Standard
Indicators: 2.2.1, 2.2.2, 2.2.4, 2.2.5, 2.2.6, 2.2.10, 2.2.11
Have students or you read other examples of city/county books (City
Mouse Country Mouse) and then compare and contrast them. You can
also have students write model stories following the patterns of the
stories. This activity was used with second graders as a young author’s
book project. They turned out wonderfully.
■
CORE STANDARD 5 Writing: Literary Text Create a list of ideas
for writing. Write brief narratives, poems and descriptions that
follow a recognizable sequence and contain descriptive details.
Revise writing to improve sequence, to add descriptive detail, and
to make language clearer. Standard Indicators: 2.4.1, 2.4.2, 2.4.6,
2.4.8, 2.5.1, 2.5.2, 2.5.4, 2.5.5, 2.5.6
■
CORE STANDARD 3 Literary Text: Comprehension and Analysis
Compare diff erent stories and poems, including the meaning or
lesson of each text. Standard Indicators: 2.3.1, 2.3.3, 2.3.7
Science:
● Students will describe characteristics of each season. Each student will
create a picture representing their season and include a written
description. Create a classroom book. Can use software such as Kidpix
for this lesson.
■CORE STANDARD 4 Earth and Space Science Earth Systems
Observe light and dark in a day-night cycle and identify the
changes as a pattern. Observe that weather changes occur from
day to day and weather patterns occur from season to season.
Standard Indicators: Forthcoming for Kindergarten
○ Have student study the life cycle of a frog and create a poster of it’s life
cycle. Talk with the kids about why the frog was not there in the winter.
● CORE STANDARD 5 Life Science Structures and Functions of
Living Systems Investigate and diagram the life cycles of a plant
and of an animal. Identify stages that are similar within the life
cycles of organisms from the same group. Identify differences in the
life cycles of organisms from different subgroups. Standard
Indicators: 3.4.1, 3.4.2, 3.4.3
INTERNET SITES:
http://www.pigeonpresents.com
http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/willems
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5co8FZXz0o
www.hyperionbooksforchildren.com
www.mowillems.com
Grades K-3 Indiana Standards met by this picture book:
Language Arts:
● CORE STANDARD 3 Literary Text: Comprehension and Analysis Compare
diff erent stories and poems, including the meaning or lesson of each text.
Standard Indicators: 2.3.1, 2.3.3, 2.3.7
● CORE STANDARD 5 Writing: Literary Text Create a list of ideas for writing. Write
brief narratives, poems and descriptions that follow a recognizable sequence and
contain descriptive details. Revise writing to improve sequence, to add
descriptive detail, and to make language clearer. Standard Indicators: 2.4.1,
2.4.2, 2.4.6, 2.4.8, 2.5.1, 2.5.2, 2.5.4, 2.5.5, 2.5.6
● CORE STANDARD 3 Literary Text: Comprehension and Analysis Identify and
describe the plot (e.g., beginning, middle and end), setting and characters of a
story. Make and confirm predictions about what will happen next in a story.
Standard Indicators: 1.3.1, 1.3.3, 1.3.5
Science:
○ CORE STANDARD 4 Earth and Space Science Earth Systems Observe
light and dark in a day-night cycle and identify the changes as a pattern.
Observe that weather changes occur from day to day and weather
patterns occur from season to season. Standard Indicators: Forthcoming
for Kindergarten
○ CORE STANDARD 5 Life Science Structures and Functions of Living
Systems Investigate and diagram the life cycles of a plant and of an
animal. Identify stages that are similar within the life cycles of organisms
from the same group. Identify differences in the life cycles of organisms
from different subgroups. Standard Indicators: 3.4.1, 3.4.2, 3.4.3
Social Studies: list standards, if any
Other: list standards, if any
Name:
_______________________________________________________________
City Dog. Country Frog
By Mo Willems – illustrated by Jon Muth
What Happens Next?!?!?!?
Put the events in order. Put the number 1 next to the event that happened first, 2 next to the
event that happened second and so on.
________
City Dog sees Country Frog sitting on a rock.
________
City Dog meets Country Chipmunk.
________
City Dog teaches Country Frog, City Dog games.
________
City Dog visits the country and runs as far and fast as he could.
________
Country Frog teaches City Dog, Country Frog games.
________
Country Frog and City Dog play remember-ing games.
________
City Dog looked for Country Frog but couldn’t find him.
Name: _______________________________________________________________
City Dog. Country Frog
By Mo Willems – illustrated by Jon Muth
Just the Facts…
Who
are the main characters in the story?
What do the main characters do?
When does the story happen / what time of year?
Where does the story happen?
Why do City Dog and Country Frog take turns?
How does the story end?