The book begins with Mother Frog laying 999 eggs in a little pond. Once they've hatched, the parents realise the pond is much too small and they'll have to move. They head out into the world to find a new home, but come across obstacles like snakes, hawks... and the tiny frogs' moaning:
'Are we there yet?'
'Hungry!'
'Sick of hopping.'
'Thirsty.'
'I'm tired!'
'Need water.'
When the hawk carries them all off - he takes Father Frog, but the rest aren't willing to let him go and all hold onto each other - the froglets are excited and then, inevitably, bored and fed up, but when the hawk drops them, they find themselves in a perfect pond.
It's a simple story, simply told and with very simple, cute, illustrations (by Yasunari Murakami), but it manages to pack a punch about family and the idea of home. It would make a perfect gift for children moving house for the first time. Lovely.
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