The Frog Princess [Hardcover]

E. D Baker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2003

Princess Emeralda isn't exactly an ideal princess. Her laugh sounds like a donkey's bray rather than tinkling bells, she trips over her own feet more often than she gracefully curtsies, and she hates the young Prince Jorge whom her mother hopes she will marry. But if Emeralda ever thought to escape from her frustrating life, she never expected it to happen by turning into a frog! This is a deliciously original and fast-paced fairy tale that turns the tables on the traditional frog-prince story, featuring a fascinating and hilarious cast of characters and starring a witty and unforgettable - princess.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This debut novel follows the adventures of 14-year-old Princess Emeralda and the talking frog she meets one day in a swamp. The frog begs her to give him a kiss so that he will turn back into Prince Eadric, his identity before an evil witch turned him into an amphibian. When the young royal obliges, she, too, is transformed into a frog, and the two leap off in search of the spell-casting witch to ask her to reverse her handiwork. Describing the duo's futile quest in laborious detail, the author pads her tale with some curiously drab characters, including another witch (who hopes to use Emeralda and Eadric in a spell she's concocting) and a bat and snake who reside in her cottage. The tale occasionally offers peppy dialogue and some comical scenes-particularly as the newly transformed Emeralda adjusts to catching flies with her tongue ("My eye-tongue coordination wasn't very good," she admits). Unfortunately, the plot doesn't make much of the magical elements (for example, the characters' encounters with a dragon and a nymph seem inconsequential), resulting in a disappointingly flat fantasy. Ages 8-14.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6-An amusing fairy-tale adventure that takes the frog-turned-prince story a little further. Princess Emeralda is incredibly clumsy, she brays like a donkey when she laughs, and she would rather spend time outdoors or learning magic from her witch-aunt Grassina than marry self-centered Prince Jorge. When she runs off to the nearby swamp, she meets "Frog" who, naturally, claims to be an enchanted prince and begs her for a spell-breaking kiss. But when she finally complies, something goes terribly wrong, and suddenly Emma is a green-skinned, pond-hopping frog. She and Eadric spend the rest of the book trying to undo the spells that have bewitched them, struggling to avoid a dragon, a frog-eating dog, and an inept angry witch along the way. When they are finally released from their enchantments, it's clear they will live a happy-if rather unconventional-life together. Baker's characters, especially Emma and Eadric, are more than meets the eye. The tale moves at a good pace, and, though the happy ending is predictable, the trials and tribulations that precede it are interesting. However, it's difficult to determine the book's audience. While the story would appeal to primary to intermediate grade girls, the vocabulary is rather sophisticated and seems to be more suited to young adults. Perhaps it would work best as a read-aloud. For fairy-tale themes more in tune with their specific audiences, turn to Donna Jo Napoli's The Prince of the Pond (Dutton, 1992) for intermediates, and her Zel (Puffin, 1998) or Beast (Atheneum, 2000) for the older crowd.
Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 214 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Inc; 1st edition (2003)
• ISBN-10: 0439528380
• ISBN-13: 978-0439528382
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (75 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,201,916 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

E. D. Baker made her international debut with The Frog Princess, which was a Book Sense Children's Pick and has sold in many languages around the world. Since then she has written four other books in the series: Dragon's Breath, Once Upon a Curse, No Place for Magic and The Salamander Spell, as well as Wings: A Fairy Tale, a new look at the classic Midsummernight's Dream story. A mother of three and grandmother of one, Ms. Baker lives in Maryland, where she and her daughters breed horses and provide a home for five cats, three dogs, and three goats. www.edbakerbooks.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A frogging fabulous read!, May 2, 2005

By 

M. A. Bechaz "bookaholic" (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Frog Princess (Tales of the Frog Princess) (Hardcover)

If you like fairy tales, and you have a sense of humour, then I've no doubt you will love this book just as much as I did.

Once I started reading this, I just couldn't put it down. It's got the whole shebang: romance, humour, adventure, magic, witches both good and bad, fickle faeries, awesome dragons, and even a bat with agoraphobia.

This is an imaginative retake on the old Frog Prince story. By a strange twist of magic, when the Princess goes to kiss the frog--POOF!--she is also turned into a frog. From then on, the Frog Prince and Princess have to fight to survive in a less than frog-friendly world, and try to regain their former human selves.

The characters in this are adorable. Princess Emma is hardly your steroetypical princess. She's clumsy and awkward and headstrong, far more at home in the swamp than she was in her castle. Prince Eadric, the frog she kisses, is also far from being a typical prince. He has a healthy sense of witty sarcasm, and an even healthier appetite for food. He's also spent so long asking princesses to kiss him that he's become a little set in his ways, and never gives up asking Emma for a smooch. But he's got a good heart to match those amorous wiles, and courage to spare.

This is a fast paced book that is so good, you'll be sad when it's over.

I can't wait to read the sequels...

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good!, May 6, 2008

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Frog Princess (Tales of the Frog Princess) (Paperback)

This book was really good! I am 10 1/2 and I loved it and couldn't put it down until I was finished. I just bought more books from this author. I recommend it!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious New Fairy Tale for Middle Readers, November 11, 2004

By 

Erika Sorocco (Southern California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Frog Princess (Tales of the Frog Princess) (Hardcover)

Fourteen-year-old Emeralda is no ordinary Princess, for her laugh is like a donkey braying, and she couldn't be more clumsy. This information is constantly thrown in her face by her Mother, the Queen, which is why Emeralda "Emma," is often found by the swamp. Which brings us to today. Emma has run into a frog, a talking frog, who insists that he is Prince Eadric, and that Emma must kiss him for him to turn back into a Prince. However, the kiss goes awry, and suddenly, Emma is just as much a frog as Prince Eadric. Now the two of them must try to survive as frogs, as they try to undo the spell, and bring them both back to their normal, human forms, before they are another animals dinner.

I love fairy tales, and E.D. Baker's THE FROG PRINCESS, is no exception. Her wonderful descriptions of life as a frog are both entertaining and suspenseful, while the entire premise of the story will keep all readers glued to the book until the very last page, in order to find out what will happen at the end. Overall, this is a lovely new novel for both male and female middle readers who enjoy a wacky fairy tale.

Erika Sorocco

Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper