An unexpected visitor inspires a frog to break out of a rut in the cozy, lighthearted Swiss import Time to Split by Daniel Fehr (Me & the Magic Cube), illustrated by Raphaël Kolly and translated into English by Marshall Yarbrough.
"Here, every day is a day like any other" for Frog, who lives in the artificial tropics of a greenhouse and starts every day with a fresh towel and banana juice. Seasons change outside, but Frog only watches through the window. Until a plump, chipper bird with an enormous purple knapsack turns up in the greenhouse, that is. A dismayed Frog demands to know how the intruder got in, but the bird simply pulls a full stove out of the knapsack and proceeds to bake muffins. Frog warms to the mysterious intruder, but soon the bird says farewell with a hearty hug and flies away through an open roof pane, leaving the stove. Frog decides to try baking, but an oven backfire shatters a pane of the greenhouse and presents an exit. "There's lots to discover," Frog muses, and a final spread shows the amphibious hero making friends with a squirrel some distance from the delicate greenhouse.
Fehr's upbeat picture book about breaking out of stagnation is gently inspiring, accented with tiny touches of humor and a sweet, though fleeting new connection. Kolly creates a verdant world of hazy, comforting sunlight and uses borderless panels to depict Frog's enclosed life, switching to a double page spread when Frog wanders out. Frog's wee bum outlined through a bath towel may elicit giggles, but the road ahead of Frog should inspire imagination. --Jaclyn Fulwood, youth services manager, Allen County Public Library