Customer Reviews

The Frog Prince

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really looked forward to receiving this book, as I had been looking for a beautifully illustrated version of the Frog Prince for a while. This one really seemed to fit the bill until a very unfortunate turn in the story. I'm the first to admit that I don't know if this is the original telling. However, I do not remember the frog turning into a prince after the princess "smashes" him into the wall. I was reading the story happily--princess loves ball, plays with ball, ball falls into well, frog offers to help, princess promises to love frog forever and let him live with her, frog retrieves ball, princess breaks her word, king makes princess keep her word, princess begrudgingly lets frog sleep in her bed, princess throws frog "against the wall with a mighty SMASH"--errr, I'm sorry, what was that last part?

"The princess became furious over having to share her room and her bed, and could not take it any longer. In a burst of anger she reached down and grabbed the frog firmly in her fist and hollered, 'Now you will be quiet you horrible frog!' and threw him against the wall with a mighty SMASH. But when he fell he was no longer a frog but a handsome young prince with kind and beautiful eyes."

(next page spread) "The king was happy as the two were wedded for life."

Well, I know that there are often uncomfortable parts in the old fairy tales (grandmothers and little piggies getting eaten by wolves, poisoned apples, etc.). However, I don't remember this little fit and I'm not comfortable with a book that has someone being rewarded for poor and violent behavior. Usually the morals of fairy tales are the opposite, with goodness and decency winning out in the end. In my old version of this tale, the princess found that the frog grew on her in the process of her keeping her promise and it was a kiss that turned him into a prince, not a violent outburst spawned by a temper tantrum.

I just wanted to caution other parents of this content. If this is the original and what you're looking for, have at it. The illustrations are quite lovely. I'm kind of tempted to take some white out and a Sharpie to it to change that page to my liking. Ha Ha

My 5-year-old daughter loves the classic fairy tales and never gets tired of reading or listening to these tales. As a result, I'm always scouring bookstores, the library, and the internet for the re-telling of fairy tales, and we both enjoy reading the multiple interpretations of classic fairy tales.

When my daughter saw this book at the library recently, she immediately picked it up and asked if we could check it out. I was taken by the attractive cover, and upon flipping through the book, thought the illustrator, Anne Yvonne Gilbert, has done an excellent job in bringing this tale to vivid life with her attention to detail and the beautiful colors used. But then we read the story together tonight, and I was rather taken aback by the way the story ended.

Grimm's Fairy Tales are not very pleasant to read, especially in their original, unedited and unabridged form. Here, though the story has been retold, the ending is quite faithful to the original - the spoiled young princess smashes the poor frog against the wall! And how is she rewarded for this cruel act? The frog transforms into a handsome young prince and the pair get married and live happily ever after! To be fair, the author, Kathy-Jo Wargin, has remained faithful to the original tale. Unfortunately, parents reading this story to young children may find themselves in the difficult position of having to explain the princess' actions and how her cruel act goes unpunished/unaddressed. My 5-year-old appeared bewildered when we read this part together, and she was especially concerned about the frog - "How was it the frog was uninjured?" "Why was the Princess being so mean?", and "Doesn't the Princess get a time-out for throwing the poor frog against the wall?"

Based on my own experience, I would advice parents and teachers to be aware of this "violent" bit in the story prior to reading the book, and perhaps be more prepared in addressing the inevitable questions arising as a result. The illustrations on the other hand,are excellent and make this a wonderful picture book, especially for collectors.

The illustrations are really, really nice, realistic, and well informed by art history. The story is well informed by folklore, and it has a disturbing twist.It is one of the versions of the prince who was turned into frog and than freed by a princess.I know, some people like the folklore pure, but keep in mind that the stories were not necessary always meant to be for small children, but for older children and adults who were believing in the supernatural quite often as much as children did. Yes, fairy tales were believed to be true by illiterate peasants through centuries. And anyway, people than didn't necessary were paragons of nice parents, life was quite cruel. This is just a short remark about realities of living and the role of such tales in peoples' lives, I don't want to analyze it there in depth, you fill the blanks yourself. Just because something was told in folklore stories, doesn't make it automatically suitable for children of today. Grimm's brother opus itself was a piece of ethnography feeding adult tastes for folk curiosities, which tastes were fueled by the thinkers of the Romantic era. the same like Hans Christian Andersen's stories were mean for adults, than became a staple stories for children. If we don't take this is account, we have stories which are to harsh for kids.So, it happens here.

One thing is also frogs are kept as pets today.Anything which is talking of less than humane treatment, in my opinion is not appropriate for children.Yes, adults can explain, by why to write stories which need long explanations in the first place, why not to write something more appropriate. Common sense in children story writing.Frog held by its leg between two fingers? Kids need to be instructed how to handle animals gently, I don't applaud book which shows such clumsiness. It is thoughtless.

Bad story abut bad princess.The princess has temper tantrum and throws the frog against the wall. The prince regains human form, yes, but keep in mind that children do not have ability to think abstractly yet. Anything which like in this story relating to a living creature in a cruel way (frog is described as ugly, it is OK for a princess to throw an animal against the wall). So, the moral is that the bad temper is rewarded, and animal cruelty is OK. This is what happens when someone follows folklore slavishly. Keep in mind that in old Europe there was a lot of animal cruelty, a lot of it based on superstitions, frogs were part of superstitions also. I don't think we need to revive such stories in such old way.

I need to give credit to the illustrator that she did great job portraying the animal as a living being, often sad, and the illustrations soften the harshness of the story. The job the illustrator has done is amazing, details, the costumes, very skilled rendition. This is a good art to expose children to at early age. But not the story, which I can't recommend, but also warn against.

The Frog Prince is a lush retelling of the classic fairytale by the Brothers Grimm, about the princess and her fateful meeting with a frog who is really an enchanted prince. Lavishly illustrated with detailed, museum-quality art, The Frog Prince spins its story in sufficient detail as to be appropriate for young readers who are almost ready to transition from picture books to chapter books. Highly recommended. "As the carriage rolled away, the prince heard a loud cracking noise. He yelled to Faithful Henry that he was afraid something might be breaking. But Faithful Henry answered that it was simply the bands around his heart snapping free, now that the spell was broken and his master was free at last."

Item was exactly as described; arrived quickly.
Very prompt service. An excellent seller!