Today’s guest post is by Edith.

Some of my favorite books are the Frog and Toad books written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel: Frog and Toad are Friends, Frog and Toad Together, Frog and Toad All Year, and Days with Frog and Toad. If you have never read these, or have never read them to a child, you are missing out on one of the most delightful friendships in the literary world.

Here is an excerpt from from one of my favorite stories: “Spring” in Frog and Toad are Friends.

Frog ran up the path to Toad’s house. He knocked on the front door. There was no answer. “Toad, Toad,” shouted Frog, “wake up. It is spring!”

“Blah,” said a voice from inside the house.

“Toad! Toad!” cried Frog. “The sun is shining! The snow is melting! Wake up!”

“I am not here,” said the voice.

Frog walked into the house. It was dark. All the shutters were closed. “Toad, where are you?” called Frog.

“Go away,” said the voice from a corner of the room. Toad was lying in bed. He had pulled all the covers over his head. Frog pushed Toad out of bed. He pushed him out of the house and onto the front porch. Toad blinked in the bright sun. “Help!” said Toad. “I cannot see anything.”

“Don’t be silly,” said Frog. “What you see is the clear warm light of April. And it means that we can begin a whole new year together, Toad. Think of it,” said Frog. “We will skip through the meadows and run through the woods and swim in the river. In the evenings we will sit right here on the front porch and count the stars.”

“You can count them, Frog,” said Toad. “I will be too tired. I am going back to bed.”

Toad does go back to bed and is very adamant that Frog should not wake him until “half past May.” Frog, however, does not want to be lonely that long and cleverly figures out a way to convince Toad to get up that day. The story ends with this sentence:

“Then he and Frog ran outside to see how the world was looking in the spring.”

I relate to Toad. I love how he says. “Blah” in this story because although I may not say “Blah” very much, I sure feel like saying it. But Frog hauls Toad out of bed to find joy in the springtime and in that I find an example of a true friend who will not let his friend wallow in bed in a dark room when spring is bursting to life outdoors. I like how Frog and Toad just enjoy doing ordinary things together and revel in simple pleasures and how they think of ways to make the other happy.

What are some of your favorite literary friendships?

Today’s guest post is by Edith.

Earlier today I was waiting for a city bus at a bus stop in downtown Minneapolis after making a nice haul at the 25￠-a-book-sale. A few years ago, people would just wait for their buses in silence, but now there are a few people who, naturally, yack on their cell phones while they wait. I don’t try to listen to their conversations, because most of them are boring. I mean, how many times when I’m shopping at Target do I want to hear, “Yeah, I’m at Target right now, picking up paper towels” or at a bus stop, “I’m waiting for the #5 bus”? But today, I’m pretty sure I overheard the logistics of a crime-in-progress.

A ordinary-looking woman crossed the street to get to the bus stop. She had a suitcase and was talking on her cell phone. I heard the fairly normal cell phone line, “I just made the copies at the library and now I’m at the bus stop and I think I’ll make it there on time.” Yawn. Then I heard, “You’ll have to meet me at HCMC at 4:00 and I’ll pass off the suitcase and the money.” My ears pricked up. Whoa! What sort of shady deal was this?

Unfortunately, right at that moment, my bus pulled up and I got on. The woman must have been waiting for a different bus because she did not board the bus I was on. But I’m still wondering, “Why does she have to “pass off” both a suitcase and money at HCMC? Was she talking with a friend or was this some sort of undercover “business” dealing?

What suspicious activity do you think was being planned in that conversation I overheard?