Frog Song
Cover illustration by Bonnie Gordon-Lucas based on Robin D. Moore's signature photo of an Amazon gladiator frog.
“This imaginative story of a treefrog from Panama brings to light the desperate plight of frogs and salamanders around the globe. In Frog Song, Megan Hollingsworth skillfully uses poetry and prose to highlight this important conservation issue for children and adults alike.”
—Douglas W. Tallamy ∣ Homegrown National Park founder & author of Nature’s Best Hope
“Frog Song is a solid foundation and catalyst for an individual or group study of multiple subjects from amphibians to extinction to death and loss. Importantly, Frog Song’s content can move study on to creating action plans. Action is where hope grows.”
—Julie Hancock ∣ retired science teacher ∣ full review
"Although death and extinction are difficult to think about, the themes raised in Frog Song have been valuable for our children's development. Our eight-year-old said he learned things he didn't know and enjoyed the illustrations. Our twelve-year-old said it's good that Megan Hollingsworth wrote a book like this."
—Donald Edward Winslow, Ph.D. ∣ ecologist & assistant professor—Indiana Academy
“Hollingsworth’s inspired words and Gordon-Lucas’s stunning illustrations turn us towards painful truths with insight, inviting us to hold the both-and reality of our heartbreak and hope.”
—Erin Holtz Braekman ∣ poetry editor, Deep Times Journal full review
Written by Megan Hollingsworth and illustrated by Bonnie Gordon-Lucas, Frog Song features an interspecies love poem inspired by the life of Toughie, the last known living Rabbs’ fringe-limbed treefrog, whose story is part of a big death that holds potential for as big a birth.
Hollingsworth published the limited edition hardcover of Frog Song in 2023 as a gift for her father, Thomas H. Hollingsworth, M.D. Also known as “the frog doctor,” Dr. Hollingsworth served as a surgeon in the Vietnam War and had a room filled with frog figurines for young patients in his family practice in Indiana.
With Toughie’s true story, information on the global ecological health crisis, illustration activities, conservation homework options, and resources for further learning, Frog Song supports imagination put to practical action for everyone’s benefit.
Frog Song is recommended for readers ages 9 and up. The limited first edition sewn hardcover is available through this website and independent bookstores at the cost of printing cooperatively with Calverts North Star Press.
illustrator:
BONNIE GORDON-LUCAS is an illustrator, animal lover, and visual communicator. Bonnie’s paintings are inspired by song titles, famous quotes, twisted misquotes, limericks, lyrics, and poems. Bonnie’s clients include The American Cancer Society, Kar-Ben Publishing, No Starch Press, Sunrise Greetings, Cricket Magazine, Riley Hospital for Children, Author House, Pittspopany Press, and Bahai Resources.
design and editing:
“Frog Song is a beautifully illustrated book for young readers (age 9 and up) who are ready to explore the facts and grief of biodiversity loss and the sixth mass extinction… For older kids ready to engage with the tough climate issues alongside Toughie the frog, this lovely book offers robust information, resources, engagement options, and a reflective hint at new ways of seeing our complex predicament.”
—Leslie Davenport ∣ CIIS Climate Psychology lead & author of All Things Under the Sun: How to Deal with Climate Change and What To Do When Climate Change Scares You ∣ full review
Frog Song is also available through the Bozeman Public Library and independent bookstores: Fact & Fiction (Missoula, MT), Elk River Books (Livingston, MT), The Pendle Hill Bookstore (Wallingford, PA), and Morgenstern Books (Bloomington, IN).
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