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July 15, 2016 by Travis Jonker

How the Heck to Pronounce “Arnold Lobel”

July 15, 2016 by Travis Jonker   3 comments

I’m turning into a single serve site today¹ to do a public duty.

Arnold Lobel (you know, the children’s literature legend behind Frog and Toad and other classics) has one of those names often pronounced different ways. Sometimes I would hear “LO-BULL” other times “LO-BELL”. I had no idea what to believe². But a little while back, I came across an old Scholastic Records edition of Frog and Toad Are Friends, which Lobel himself narrates. His first line set me forever straight on the matter.

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¹You know the sites I’m talking about – the sites that tell you just one thing, like if it’s time for a nap or if it’s St. Patrick’s Day.

²I should have gone to the Author Pronunciation Guide at TeachingBooks.net.

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About Travis Jonker

Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.

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Comments

  1. Kiera Parrott says

    July 15, 2016 at 4:54 pm

    I’ve been mispronouncing this my whole life, apparently. I always put the emphasis on the second syllable (lo-BELL), but it’s the first (LO-bell). The more you know!

    • Dana Frank says

      July 15, 2016 at 5:23 pm

      Perfect timing! We are reading his Fables book in my summer school class and discussing the author Monday! Thank you!

  2. Ruth McNally Barshaw says

    July 16, 2016 at 11:08 am

    I read this post smugly thinking, I already know how to pronounce this name because I’ve heard everyone say his name a million times.
    I (and everyone I learned from) was saying it wrong. It’s LO-bell, not Luh-BELL.
    For anyone who might not know, my friend Mike Jung’s name is pronounced JUNG, not YOUNG.
    And mine, which people rarely get wrong, is BAR-shaw.

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