Bertha and the Frog Choir

Frogs are notoriously noisy croakers, and French author Foccroulle envisions them as singing in a bona fide chorus in this lighthearted pond romp, first published in Belgium. But when Bertha and Lucy audition, things don't go as well as they'd hoped. The intimidating choir leader, Amadeus (who has Groucho Marx%E2%80%93style eyebrows), tells Lucy that she's "much too little" for the choir, refusing to let her sing, and he informs Bertha that her singing voice is "a disgrace to our species!" Dejected, the two frogs retreat to the edge of the pond, where Bertha prepares slug, fly, and lily pad stew to cheer them up. Lucy hatches a plan: with Bertha's size and Lucy's singing voice, the two make a pretty good team%E2%80%94it just means that Lucy will have to croak from inside Bertha's mouth. Masson's expressive frogs are charmingly offbeat, with a repertoire of songs like "We are the frogs, we are the children.../ We are the frogs who make a brighter day." Preschool-age readers should easily grasp the message about being true to one's own abilities. Ages 4%E2%80%93up. (Mar.)