The Story of Frog Belly Rat Bone - Softcover

Ering, Timothy Basil

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0763626112 ISBN 13: 9780763626112

Publisher: Candlewick, 2008

Synopsis

FROG BELLY plants the idea that with some strategy, good communication, and goodwill, you can grow wonderful things. — PORTLAND PRESS HERALD

Once upon a time, in a gray endless place called Cementland, there lived a boy who wished to find a treasure. After searching through piles of toaster ovens and wet smelly socks, he spies a box filled with specks and a note that says, "Put these wondrous riches in the earth and enjoy." Horrified to learn that thieves are after his treasure, the boy scrounges in the junkyard and conjures a scarecrow-like creature to stand guard: Frog Belly Rat Bone, king and protector of the specks. With subtle tones and bursts of glowing color, Tim Ering’s surreal artwork and hand-lettered text exude all the whimsy of an inspired imagination — and the wonders of a natural world that awaits discovery, even in Cementland.

A NICK JR. FAMILY MAGAZINE Best Book of the Year

A New England Book Show Juvenile Category Winner

A New York Book Show Children’s Trade Hardcover Winner

About this title

About the Author:

Timothy Basil Ering says that THE STORY OF FROG BELLY RAT BONE was inspired by a visit to Descanso Gardens, a botanical garden in Pasadena, California, where there is a private garden for urban Los Angeles schoolchildren. "For as long as I can remember, I have loved to mix up words and phrases into silly little combinations that would make me laugh," he explains. "I’d make up songs while meandering down the outer beach of Cape Cod to favorite fishing spots, and ‘Frog Belly Rat Bone’ was always a favorite string of nouns. Then one day in Pasadena, I sat at a tiny picnic table in the children’s garden and began to sketch the garden’s scarecrow. I knew at that moment that Frog Belly Rat Bone had found a home." Timothy Basil Ering’s artwork has appeared in books, magazines, theater sets, private murals, and fine art galleries. A resident of Somerville, Massachusetts, he is enamored of the sea and has a passion for nature and the outdoors. This is his first picture book with Candlewick Press.

From Booklist:

K-Gr. 2. Welcome to Cementland, "a dull, gray, endless place" of ruined buildings, exposed plumbing, and things in corners that nobody really wants to see. In that gloomy land dwells a special boy who finds a treasure. But it is one thing to find a treasure and quite another to keep it when thieves are around. To protect the loot, the boy (a round-headed, neckless stick figure) builds a creature from wire; wet, smelly socks; and other things at hand. And so is born Frog Belly Rat Bone, and before kids can say "junkyard dog," Cementland is transformed into a garden of Eden. The story is both predictable and a tad didactic, but the art and the design are extraordinary. Ering's combination of hand-lettered text and scribbly, muddy, scratchy pictures looks like a collaboration between Tim Burton and Ralph Steadman (in a good mood). Even better, the book's covers are embossed to offer tactile pleasures that the textured inside art only implies. Children will skim the story, but savor the art. Michael Cart
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About this edition

• Publisher: Candlewick
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0763626112
• ISBN 13: 9780763626112
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 48
• Illustrator: Ering Timothy Basil