Frog and Friends (26 Books)

Frog is a picture book character created by Dutch author and illustrator Max Velthuijs, one of the most famous children's illustrators in the Netherlands. In 2004 Max Velthuijs received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for his "lasting contribution to children's literature".

The first Frog title in English was published in 1989, entitled Frog In Love, translated by Klaus Flugge for Andersen Press, one of the few British publishers whose list always includes books from other countries.

There are now 26 Frog books, which, with their humanity and their thoughtful, gently humorous approach to the art of living, are largely inspired by Velthuijs's own experiences.

In the Netherlands Frog is known as Kikker and he has become a well known and loved character. In Britain Frog Is A Hero was included in the National Curriculum.

As a writer, Max writes with economy, and his stories are acted out by a purposefully small group of engagingly disparate but interdependent animals - Frog, Pig, Duck, Hare. Though simply drawn, with a gentle brush line, the characteristics and, above all, the feelings of each animal are perfectly suggested in their attitudes and their eloquent gestures.

Frog himself - plain, green and vulnerable - is a masterpiece of anthropomorphic wit and graphic economy. His mouth may be just a single line, but it's a sensitive line that registers every flicker of emotion. In spite of his baggy shorts, he has a touching dignity, especially in the angle at which he holds his head - in profile he's not unlike the large enamel ewer that features in Morandi's still-life paintings.

But Frog is no empty vessel: receptive and brimming with curiosity, he's both thoughtful and impulsive, and though he does make mistakes, somehow, with his innocence and his emotional honesty, he leads from behind and brings out the best in everyone.

As a picture book artist, Max was always more influenced by the work of other illustrators - like Janosch and Weihs - than he was by painters. The exception to this was the Italian painter/ etcher Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964), whose work he first encountered in the 1980s. Morandi is known for his still-life paintings and etchings in which familiar household objects are endlessly arranged and rearranged in different permutations.

The shapes of the jars, bottle and jugs relate to one another in subtle and mysterious ways, and with their quiet, monumental gravity, these paintings seem an unlikely source of inspiration for a children's illustrator. But what Velthuijs found in Morandi's enigmatic compositions was the colour, form and natural beauty that he was looking for in his own - and soon his illustrations began to reflect a new sensitivity.

Using gouache, the color became more subtle, without losing its clarity, and he gave the work a new structure by putting a painted border round each illustration - a device that gently contains the images, giving them a timeless quality, inviting and rewarding contemplation.

Jury president Jeffrey Garrett credited him with fables of human nobility, rather than Aesop's "foolishness, vanity, and meanness". "The stories of Kikker, or Frog, and his diverse group of friends are miniature morality plays for our age, demonstrating in framed vignettes—as if on a stage—that life can be hard but is in the end good, that there will be comfort: do not give up, do not lose faith, for you are stronger than you think, and you are not alone."

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作者简介
马克斯·维尔修思（Max Velthuijs）是一位备受国际推崇的儿童插图画家，1923 年出生于荷兰的海牙(TheHague) ，1944 年，毕业于荷兰阿纳姆（Amhem ）学院艺术设计专业， 1962 年，瑞士出版家Nord-SüdVerlag受马克斯清新有力的画风的吸引，请他为自己的书配图，马克斯由此投身于插画事业。马克斯·维尔修思被认为是荷兰最伟大的儿童图画书创作人之一。“青蛙弗洛格”系列图画书被誉为“简笔画世界的杰作”，被誉为是“简笔画世界的杰作”。

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