But with a happy ending.

CliffsNotes version: A frog named Gorky mixes up a magic potion in his parents’ kitchen one day, as any boy frog would want to do. He drinks it, and begins floating up into the sky. Up through clouds, through a rainstorm, into the heavens, where he is suspended, “like a coat on a hanger.” Looks down on the world from whence he came, ponders life. Comes back down to earth, lands on 10 million year old Elephant Rock, which suddenly comes alive. Is reuinted with his loving family.

Favorite little moment: “What a magical, cloverous smell!”

Favorite passage: “He hung there a long, long time, wondering where he was — exactly what spot on the map he was over. There was nothing around him but thesecret, silent night, the sea of blinking stars. Dreamily, he began asking himself questions he could not answer: Did anyone know where he was? Did God, for example, know? Did his parents? He wished he were home with them now, asleep in his feather bed. He was tired.”

How I might describe it: An exploration of our dreams of escape, of transcending our circumstances and striking out…only to take comfort in home. William Steig books always come home.

CliffsNotes version: Trash collector dog named Tiffky Doofky stops, on his daily rounds, to get his fortune told. On this day, the fortune teller tells him, he will meet the love of his life. He goes on to meet the love of his life. Endures several strange encounters, and is almost strangled