Frog  by Susan Cooper (2002)

This is not a new book but I recently read Frog by Susan Cooper and the children were riveted! You can say it provides an opportunity for print awareness but I actually think the true beauty of the book is that it creates an opportunity for empathy: empathy for Little Joe who can't swim like the rest of his family, empathy for the frog who is in a big scary dangerous place. Along with an example of being kind and doing the right thing- Little Joe saves the frog. The frog teaches little Joe how to swim.   

Jane Corry