Rosie the Ribeter: The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

Who holds the world record triple jump record – for bullfrogs?

Rosie, the Ribeter.

She set the record in May 1986 at 21 feet 5 ¾ inches.

Her record has stood for over 30 years.

This is her story.

It all started with Mark Twain and his famous story, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” After it was published, the Calaveras County fair started the Jumping Frog Jubilee™, which has run since 1928.

Over the years, the frogs have jumped farther.

Why? Scientists say it’s because of the frog jockeys,the men and women who catch and jump the frogs.

Read this extraordinary story of a man and a frog.

ANOTHER EXTRAORDINARY ANIMAL collection – Award Winning Collection!

• Wisdom, the Midway Alabtross: Surviving the Japanese Tsunami and Other Disasters for Over 60 Years, Starred Publisher’s Weekly review
• Abayomi, the Brazilian Puma: The True Story of an Orphaned Cub, 2015 NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book
• Nefertiti, the Spidernaut: The Jumping Spider Who Learned to Hunt in Space, 2017 NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book

History of the Jumping Frog Jubilee™

Mark Twain’s first successful short story was “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” published in 1865. The humorous story was based on a story he heard in Angels Hotel in Angels Camp, California, where he’d spent time as a miner. Calaveras County, California drew on this legend & added the Jumping Frog Jubilee™ to its 1928 county fair.

Children's book author Darcy Pattison finds inspiration in writing about science, nature and history; three of her books have been honored as NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Books. Her nature picture books include Nefertiti, the Spidernaut, a 2017 NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book and on the Alabama Camellia Book Award list; Abayomi, the Brazilian Puma, a 2015 NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book; Wisdom, the Midway Albatross, a starred review in Publisher's Weekly; Desert Baths, a 2013 NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book; and, Prairie Storms. Elementary physical science books include Clang! Ernst Chladni's Sound Experiments and Burn: Michael Faraday's Candle. The Nantucket Sea Monster: A Fake News Story was a Junior Library Guild selection and a 2018 NCTE Notable Children's Book in Language Arts. Other picture books include The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman, which received an Irma Simonton Black and James H. Black Award for Excellence in Children's Literature Honor Book award, starred reviews in BCCB and Kirkus, and has been published in a Houghton Mifflin textbook. She is also the author of middle grade novels and nationally teaches a Novel Revision Retreat. For more, see darcypattison.com/about

Nathaniel Gold is the award-winning author and illustrator of the beloved Chimpman series, as well as Too Much TV Rots Your Brain and Other Poems. He's the illustrator for Wonky: A Robotics Club Story. Nathaniel lives in upstate New York with his wife, two children, and a dog.