Pistes d'exploration

Why did Jessica keep showing her treasures to Marilyn and August, who were always unimpressed? Discuss what you would have done in Jessica’s place.

Discuss where Marilyn might have gotten her information about chickens. Why did Jessica take for granted everything her friends said? Why were they laughing so hard at the end?

Do you think that Jessica would have become friends with the alligator if she had known that it was an alligator? How can preconceptions prevent friendships?

On an anchor chart, list the characteristics of each animal. Choose one animal and personify it in a new story.

Take a picture walk and imagine the plotline. Then read the text aloud. Compare the picture version to the text version.

Discuss where Marilyn might have gotten her information about chickens. Why did Jessica take for granted everything her friends said? Why were they laughing so hard at the end of the story? Discuss the humour in this book.

Use a graphic organizer to compare alligators, frogs and chickens. How are they similar and different?

Discuss the criteria for a good friend. Were Marilyn and August good friends to Jessica? Provide written evidence for your answer. 

Friends

Mots-clés

Picture book , alligators , eggs , friendship , frogs , mistaken identity

Commentaire descriptif

Jessica, one of three frogs living happily on Pebble Island, is always finding things and labelling them extraordinary. Her companions, Marilyn and August, are never impressed. One day, she brings home a unique “pebble” that is “perfect, white like the snow and round like the full moon on a midsummer night.” Marilyn assumes it is a chicken egg, though she’s never seen one before. So when the egg finally hatches and a long green, scaly creature, crawls out, what else could it be but a chicken? Readers will enjoy the humour in this story, focused on the frogs mistaking a newborn alligator for a chicken. The characterization of Marilyn as one who seems to know “everything about everything” makes the case of mistaken identity even funnier. Simple collage illustrations of personable, anthropomorphic frogs in their natural habitat add colour and texture to the double spreads. Warm friendly artwork, endearing characters and tongue-in-cheek humour give this book instant kid-appeal—whether read aloud or independently.