Nikolai Popov

This haunting, wordless book is about a frog sitting on a rock happily with his flower, who gets attacked by a mouse. Then the frog’s friends come and attack the mouse. Then the mouse’s friends come and attack the frog, and the war escalates until what was once peaceful surroundings are blown to pieces. This is a metaphor for war in human life, and shows how meaningless it is, and the damage it can cause. The illustrations are both adorable and frightening because the frog is so cute and show more you see all his cute friends, but they are at war with the mice and doing horrible things. This book is amazing for ages 8 and up, and is a great conversation piece for the pointlessness of war. show less

Why, is a wordless picture book on the futility of war. The story communicates its message with beautiful pastel images of the countryside populated with gentle looking frogs and mice. Through the pictures you see how a small conflict can lead to devastating consequences. This is the perfect book to use with young students to talk about conflict resolution and how to use is effectively in everyday life. This goes in hand with an issue that is taking place currently; too many actions are show more taken without anyone really speaking. show less

This is a satire, and while I recognize that this is not one of the genre's we studied, it deserves some attention for this book. The book is wordless, but the pages show a frog sitting by himself when a rat surfaces and attacks the frog. More frogs come to his aid, and soon, a war between rats and frogs emerges, exchanging shots for shots and sabotage for sabotage. At the end, it shows the original frog and rat sitting on the destroyed land with their back to each other, the wreckage all show more around. It is satire because it uses a story to show a political or structural problem. Could be used to discuss the effects of war in class. show less

Enjoyable glimpse into a exceptionally large tactical aircraft. The accident section was interesting when viewed against contemporary aircraft and should be read by anybody who wants some insight into Soviet era leadership. The Fiddler appears to have been a relatively unheralded aircraft that performed its missions quietly and competently while crewed by some dedicated aircrew. Put it on your wish list.