Arnold Stark Lobel (May 22, 1933 – December 4, 1987) was an American author of children's books, including the Frog and Toad series and Mouse Soup.

Adrianne and Adam have donated more than 600 of their father's artworks to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.

[6] After college, Lobel was unable to support himself as either a children's book author or illustrator and so he worked in advertising and trade magazines, which he openly disliked.

[4] On the October 25, 1950 episode of "Kukla, Fran and Ollie", Oliver J. Dragon presented "poems by Thomas Smith and drawings by Arnold Lobel from Schenectady.

"[20] Lobel's chosen vocabulary, subject matter, and writing style helped to re-conceive what an easy reader book could be.

In his 1977 The Lion and the Unicorn interview, Lobel discussed the ways he would work through his emotions while still maintaining his children's audience.

"[4] The marked contrast between the "adventurous" Frog and the "bumbling" Toad is part of what made their relationship believable and endearing.

[17] The strong friendship between Frog and Toad has been identified as an important reason for their success with children,[7] along with their "vaudevillian" relationship.

[7] Lobel won the 1981 Caldecott Medal from the American Library Association, recognizing Fables as the year's best-illustrated U.S. children's picture book.

[27] He won the Garden State Children's Book Award from the New Jersey Library Association for Mouse Soup (1977).

[19] The musical A Year with Frog and Toad (workshopped 2000, premiered 2002), by Adrianne Lobel and others, played on Broadway in 2003 and has toured nationally since.