《青蛙和蟾蜍》 Frog and Toad Chinese Bridge Books for Budding Readers

Last year after completing 四五快读, my daughter and I read the 青蛙和蟾蜍 Frog and Toad in simplified Chinese. I was intrigued by the series after my friend, Virginia of Mandarin Mama, reviewed her family’s experience with the traditional Chinese version. At that time, my daughter was developing more stamina for longer reading passages, and these early chapter (bridge) books were perfect for reading practice. We recently revisited these books again and enjoyed them even more! This time around, my daughter’s reading is much more fluid, and her reading comprehension is much improved.

As my Chinese reading skills are gradually catching up to my daughter’s, I can now enjoy the humor and charm of the stories with my daughter. Last year, I was so dependent on Pinyin that my daughter led the way with these books. This time, I only have to bug her or check my dictionary for a few words here and there.

《青蛙和蟾蜍》Frog and Toad Chinese (4 volumes)

Author: 艾諾洛貝爾 (Arnold Lobel)
Where to Buy (*please check carefully whether the stores sell the books individually or as a set):
- Simplified Chinese / ISBN: 9787533260897
- Traditional Chinese with Zhuyin / ISBN: 9780060239510, 9577622461, 95767622453, 9577622437
Where to listen: Ximalaya 青蛙和蟾蜍系列 (Frog and Toad Series) – 20 tracks

Book Titles

Frog and Toad Are Friends 青蛙和蟾蜍－好朋友
Frog and Toad Together 青蛙和蟾蜍－好伙伴
Days With Frog and Toad 青蛙和蟾蜍－快乐时光
Frog and Toad All Year 青蛙和蟾蜍－快乐年年

Review of 青蛙和蟾蜍 Frog and Toad Chinese

This fictional series consists were originally written in English by the famous Arnold Lobel. This set comes with 4 books with 5 stories (chapters) each. The simplified version is about 64 pages per book with no Pinyin or English; on the other hand, the traditional Chinese version has Zhuyin support. Relatively large print is clearly visible against a white background and paired with neutral-toned but expressive illustrations.

Although Frog and Toad are best friends, they are two very different characters. Throughout the stories, their companionship and experiences serve as a metaphor for human relationships. Frog is the responsible, practical friend while Toad is adventurous and emotional. However, they give each other balance, and learn from each other through routine events like joking around, storytelling, swimming with friends, and making to-do lists.

How we are reading the Chinese Frog and Toad books

As mentioned previously, these books are early chapter books, which bridge young readers to future chapter books and eventually novels. In contrast to leveled readers, my daughter reads these in any order that she wishes.

Last year, my daughter knew about 800 Chinese characters when she read the series. This year, she knows over 1000 Chinese characters and was able to read most words in these books. Compared to Little Bear Bridge Books in Chinese, this series is slightly more challenging as there not as much repetition compared to the Little Bear books. However, the variety in sentence structure is one of the reasons this series was more captivating for my daughter!

The stories are really funny for my 5-year-old, and she has a hard time putting the book down! Although my 2-year-old doesn’t understand the plot yet, he enjoys animal stories and will sit still and listen through some of these stories with his sister.

Inside the 青蛙和蟾蜍 Frog and Toad Chinese Bridge Books

Here is a peek at some of the 青蛙和蟾蜍 Frog and Toad Chinese stories. Periodically, I leave a book open on this bookstand from Amazon so that the book catches my daughter’s eye and thus motivate her to pick it up!

In summary, I highly recommend the endearing Frog and Toad series for budding readers!

RELATED CHINESE BOOKS FOR KIDS

Ximalaya FM has thousands of Chinese stories for children for free, and we listen to our favorites almost everyday! Since the entire website and app is in Chinese, please refer to this guide if you cannot read Chinese.
Here are other Chinese bridge books for budding readers
Check our all of our favorite Chinese book recommendations for kids! Each week, I will be adding book reviews to this website!

WHERE TO BUY CHINESE BOOKS FOR KIDS

If you’re wondering where to buy Chinese books for children, please click here for the most popular online Chinese bookstores!

RECOMMENDED BILINGUAL FACEBOOK PARENTING GROUPS

As always, please let me know if you have any questions, and I’ll try my best to answer them! Please leave a note in the comments! I also highly recommend reaching out to parents in Facebook support groups:

You can also follow me on Facebook where I share my latest posts as well as favorite articles about children’s education, Chinese resources, and hands-on activities from other websites! In addition, on Instagram, I share activity highlights and how we integrate Chinese-learning in our daily family life!