From the January/February 2000 issue of The Horn Book Magazine

Boston Globe–Horn Book Award Acceptance

would like to thank Joy Cowley for her wonderful gift of putting words to pictures in a way that has made this book work so well. In many ways, the task for her was not straightforward. In choosing words and developing a plot, Joy did not have unlimited freedom. Her story had to fit within the constraints of what it was possible to photograph. The star of our book, the red-eyed tree frog, could not read a script — never mind perform on demand. There were only a limited number of actions and events that could be constructed before the camera.

Although many of the photographs in this book — the landscapes and some of the animals — were photographed in the rainforest, the frog had to be photographed in a studio. To realize why, one has only to try to observe red-eyed tree frogs in the wild. On one of several visits to the rainforest of Costa Rica, I went with a biologist to study these animals in their natural habitat. We traveled to an area of swamp forest, about five miles from camp. It was after midnight and a misty rain drenched everything — the type of conditions only a frog fully appreciates. I remember standing knee deep in the swamp and peering up at the canopy, staring hard into the pencil-beam of light cast by my headlamp.

Then I spotted a frog about thirty feet up, clinging to the tip of a branch with impossible thin spidery limbs. For a second I gazed into its eyes, then it leapt out of my light beam and vanished. That night we saw several animals, and even eventually caught one for a closer look. But it was clearly not a situation for photography. The constant rainfall and clouds of mosquitoes were considerable obstacles, never mind the snakes and alligators, or the fact that I would need a very long ladder to reach my subject.

The type of pictures I needed for this book required a slow and deliberate studio approach. This involved a lot of preliminary setting up, with attention to strobe lighting and other details. So the frog I photographed was a captive-bred animal that came from a pet store.

After I had photographed a number of portraits and actions I sent them to Joy who, in her supportive way, was full of praise, while politely suggesting we needed some point of tension in the book to spike the readers interest. Perhaps, even, the frog could be in some mortal danger?

Snakes are the main predators of red-eyed tree frogs in the rainforest. Could I, I thought, re-create a scene in the studio in which a snake nearly ate the frog? I have to admit I instantly had misgivings. By this stage, Frog had become like a family member, and minor celebrity among our friends. I had come to appreciate his personality, to enjoy the sound of his calls in the depths of the night, from the large tank where he lived in my study. Without a mate to serenade, the frog had even taken to singing back to the sound of the fax machine, as it whistled and whirred with an incoming message from the far side of the globe — sometimes from Joy herself. How could I risk any harm to this delightful animal?

But we did need that snake picture. So the frog was placed on a palm frond in my studio in front of the camera. The strobes were set up all around, ready to go. My right hand was on the shutter, and my left hand held a snake, carefully moving it closer and closer. These situations are never easy. It is unpredictable working with one live animal. With two, almost anything can happen—and I was thoughtful of the worst possible outcome.

Suddenly, as if reading my mind, the snake made a quick movement toward the frog. There was no time for conscious decisions. I instinctively pulled the snake away as my frog leapt for his life — then I cursed myself for being so stupid and selfish. “That’s it,” I thought, “no more. I’m not going to risk this animal for the sake of a book.”

But a small miracle happened. When I later processed the film in my camera, there was this single perfect shot — of the snake flicking its tongue and the frog scrabbling for safety. Even though I was barely aware of it at the time, I had pressed the shutter at that crucial instant. Normally action shots like this are so fraught by variables I have to repeat them dozens of times to get the right one. For example, the speed of a snake’s tongue-flick is so fast that you cannot possibly hope to see it and press the shutter in time. There have been instances when I have taken more than two hundred shots of an action subject, just to get that one perfect picture. Yet here it was in my hands, at one take — and I was barely aware of having done it.

After that story, you will understand that I should also thank the frog for all he put up with during the creation of this book. If he were with us I am sure he would bask in the spotlight. But I have to tell you with sadness that Frog passed away, after a very long life in amphibian years.

When I reached back into my own childhood, I remembered that my bookshelf was filled only with nonfiction titles. As a young boy, I was always more enchanted by the natural world than the imagined. At school I would rarely read past page three of a fiction story before I was glancing out of the window, my mind drifting to the world outside. Certainly, I was one of those children who didn’t respond to reading fiction.

That is why this honor is special to me. I know that many picture books deserving equal credit and none of them should be considered the best. The awards this book has received are, I believe, largely because it fills that particular niche of being a nonfiction picture book with photographs. Red-Eyed Tree Frog is one of those books I wish I had as a child.

Finally I would like to thank the production team at Scholastic, whose efforts have made this such a good book. In particular my editor, Lauren Thompson, and book designers Dave Caplan and David Saylor. As a photographer I am usually wary about the impact that design and layout can have on a book’s visual appeal. But I have to tell you that this is the most thoughtfully designed book I have ever been associated with. Scholastic too can take credit for the honor today.

—Nic Bishop

et’s face it. Red-Eyed Tree Frog is about pictures, stunning photographs that give personality to a little frog and bring it close to the hearts of children. All that a text can do is help the young reader rejoice in the visuals.

I have worked with Nic Bishop before, and I know his passion for the natural world, especially the small creatures with whom we share this planet. He combines knowledge and fine technical skill with love of his subject matter and a deep understanding of the heart of a child. This means that his illustrations are authentic, beautiful, and perfect for young readers.

When Nic first suggested a collaboration on this book, we did what we have done before. He sent me a lot of photographs of the tree frog and I searched through them for a story. A day in the night of a red-eyed tree frog? Okay. Now, what interest would be shared by a tree frog and a young child? Eating? Food! Okay again. But wait! We didn’t have any tension in the story, which meant we didn’t have a plot. I faxed Nic: What can threaten a tree frog? Back came the reply: A snake! To get the essential drama, Nic took more photos with a boa snake, and we had an eater narrowly escaping being eaten. That, we thought, was a plot that could be vicariously thrilling to a young child.

Finally we had a text and a series of photos that seemed to work together, but we still didn’t have a book. Credit for that goes to our editor, Lauren Thompson, and her team at Scholastic, who arranged the collection of photographs and words to make a very beautiful production that honors the children who are growing in the love of books.

—Joy Cowley