Horn Book

In this wordless picture book, a mouse emerges suddenly from a hole in the ground and steals a frog's flower. The incident escalates into full-fledged war between frogs and mice until destruction is nearly total. Popov's message is clear, if simplistic, as double-page spreads progress from open spaces and cool green tones to cluttered, hectic, dark pages.

Kirkus Reviews (Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

A wordless condemnation of violence and war—their often absurd origins and always grim aftermath. It all starts with a frog lazily enjoying the smell of a flower. A mouse happens along and snatches the flower. The frog, with two friends, retaliates by swiping the mouse's umbrella. Things escalate as additional frogs and mice enter the fray, the tools of battle grow more sophisticated, and full-blown warfare erupts. In the end, the terrain is wasted and everyone's the loser. Popov captures all the ugliness of war: the smoky gloom of armies on the march, the blank look of the soldier in battle, the scary machines of war. The last page of this artful cautionary tale gives further pause. There sits the frog with a shattered umbrella, the mouse with a wilted flower—their pathetic spoils. Still they do not acknowledge one another; more dazed than transformed, they look capable of taking up arms again at any moment. Provocative. (Picture book. 5-8)"

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

A strong anti-war message and lithe, incandescent artwork propel this affecting wordless picture book,"""" said PW of this """"forceful allegory."""" Ages 5-8. (Oct.)

School Library Journal

Gr 1-4--A frog dressed in long johns sits on a rock, peacefully smelling flowers. Out of the ground pops a mouse (in overalls) with an umbrella. A new friend? Hardly. The mouse attacks, the frog falls off the rock and seizes his flower. Frog, however, has large friends, who drive the mouse away. Back comes the rodent, with his friends, in a wheeled contraption with a gun. Retreating, the frogs come up with wheeled contraptions of their own. By the end, the once-idyllic scene has become a war zone, dotted with blackened wreckage, in which frog, with a shattered umbrella, and mouse, holding a crumpled flower, sit with sad, puzzled expressions. Unlike most of its thematic kin, from Dr. Seuss's Butter Battle Book (Random, 1984) to Umberto Eco's The Bomb and the General (Harcourt, 1989), the accomplished illustrations in this wordless antiwar parable are deceptively pretty, with delicate lines, misty backgrounds, and soft blues and greens that gently blend into each other. Despite escalating battles, there's no visible death or physical injury; Popov's intent seems to be to surprise readers a bit, then to provoke their thoughts and discussion.--John Peters, New York Public Library