Customer Reviews

The Frog Princess

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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...

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!

It has been well documented that a kiss is much more than the brief contact between two pairs of lips.

Indeed, as E. D. Baker points out, its transformative abilities have been well noted in stories as disparate as Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and, of course, The Frog Prince. The kiss has lost none of its potency in Baker's skewed fairy tale, as fourteen year old Princess Emeralda discovers. Succumbing to the pleas of yet another talking frog claiming to be an enchanted prince (goodness, there seem to be rather a lot of those around), she reluctantly puckers up-- and is herself changed into a frog. She and her froggy companion, Prince Eadric, embark upon a quest to regain their humanity; it is, as Eadric puts it, "a matter of life or froghood." Their everything-but-the-kitchen-sink adventures include amusing episodes with Vannabe, the would-be wicked witch, a disgruntled swamp fairy, various enchanted and/or talking creatures, several kisses (few of them between humans), and insects of varying degrees of tastiness. Fireflies, anyone? Or perhaps a nice, crunchy dragonfly?

The first person narrative has a certain sprightly charm with a number of humorous and clever garnishes (the trash can vs. the trash can't; the difference between them becomes crucial when the contents of the trash can't are freed by Emma's spell), and as a whole is seldom less than enjoyable, though I was rolling my eyes when it came to a cartoonish talking bat named--wait for it--Li'l Stinker. The dialogue can be a bit wooden and very occasionally descends into downright corniness ("I would never have met the best friend I've ever had," says Emma to Eadric in a particularly cliche instance), but the book works well when being flippant and tongue in cheek, which it mostly is.

The greatest problem with the book is not what it does wrong, but what it fails to do, i.e. to be a really clever, memorable modern fairy tale. All the stereotypes of fairy tales are present, most turned on their heads with moderate success. But while they do subvert fairy tale conventions, neither characters, story, nor world really take on a life of their own. There is nothing to make Baker's enchanted forest or generic fantasy world stand out from any other, and the characters are almost equally wanting. Even as the narrator of her own story, Emma comes across as just another member of a new generation of unconventional princesses (brave, kind hearted, but also shy and clumsy), and Eadric, amusingly self centered and imperfect, is only a little more individual. While reading The Frog Princess, I was reminded of a host of other modern fairy tale characters with more, well, character. Grassina pales beside the forceful, relentlessly no-nonsense Morwen of Patricia C. Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles, and Eadric is nothing to Diana Wynne Jones's flamboyantly egotistical and selfish but lovable Howl. The pointed wit and skilful manipulation of fairy tales seen in Patrice Kindl's Goose Chase and Vivian Vande Velde's The Rumpelstiltskin Problem make The Frog Princess seem a trifle labored in comparison.

Writing skewed, young adult fairy tales has become a very popular thing to do, with the result that a number of books have been recently published that deal with the same basic themes. Fairy tale aficionados will enjoy Baker's offering, but may find themselves returning to stronger novels in this subgenre. The Frog Princess is an amusing little book, but it covers no new ground and leaves no deep impression.

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

Writing a critical review for a book as harmless and fluffy as "The Frog Princess" makes me feel awful, almost like I'm unnecessarily picking on a little girl in the corner who is minding her own business and trying to quietly read her book. But the fact remains that although "The Frog Princess" is a diverting and easy-to-read story, it's also rather patchy and forgettable. Quite simply: there are better books to be read to your kids, and plenty that include frogs and princesses.

Princess Emeralda (or "Emma" as she prefers) is suffers from a domineering mother and an arranged marriage. She has a witchy-aunt to keep her company, but sadly Aunt Grassina has gone on a journey to places unknown...just in time for Emma to get herself into serious trouble. Having met a talking-frog in the swamplands around the castle, the so-called Prince Eadric coaxes a kiss out of the princess in the hopes that she'll break the spell cast over him. In the book's central conceit, the kiss has quite the opposite effect: Emma is turned into a frog.

Now struggling to control her new body and its taste for insects, Emma joins up with Eadric in the attempt to break the curse that now binds both of them. What follows is a range of mini-adventures in which the froggy couple come up against several obstacles in their journey reach to Emma's castle and (hopefully) find an answer to their predicament. Such adventures include a wannabe witch, a thieving otter, a grumpy fairy, and various other talking animals that help or hinder their passage home. Other even minor characters, such as a dragon and a nymph, do neither, being introduced into the story only to disappear again just as quickly. Often the language is too contemporary for the setting: "he thought I had a crush on him" and "give me a break!" are two examples, as well as a character called "Li'l Stinker."

Narrated in first-person by Emma, the tone is breezy and cheerful, with a comedic edge that keeps the pace moving. Without her voice, I suspect the adventures would be more tedious than enjoyable. Emma herself is of the new breed of princesses who are swiftly becoming just as much a stereotype as their swooning, damsel-in-distress predecessors. She's rebellious, she's opinionated, she's unconventional and her defining feature is - you guessed it - clumsiness. What is it with girls these days that they can't walk in a straight line without (in the most endearing way possible, of course) tripping over themselves?

Eadric is arrogant, boastful and self-centered, constantly asking Emma for more kisses as the adventure continues, and who doesn't seem to have improved much by his stint as a frog. It's his own fault that he's under a spell in the first place (he insulted a witch, and not accidentally either) and although I can appreciate the fact that he's not a typical prince-charming either in or out of his frog-skin, I also felt that Emma could have done much better for herself.

The little girl in the corner reading her book now has tears in her eyes, and I feel unaccountably guilty. How can I criticize a book that features a crowned frog on a pink cover? It's not hurting anyone! Despite its flaws, readers of a certain age and gender will certainly enjoy this fractured fairytale, and as I browse the online bookstore, I can see that there are several sequels that no doubt continue the adventures of Emma and Eadric, suggesting some level of regular readers.

But I think the problem is that library bookshelves everywhere are currently flooded with retold, updated and/or fractured fairytales, many of which feature a royal amphibian under a spell...and many of these other efforts are simply much better than what is presented here. Just off the top of my head, I can recommend Donna Jo Napoli's: The Prince of the Pond: Otherwise Known as De Fawg Pin or The Frog Prince, Continued (Picture Puffin) by Jon Scieszka, two other authors who have taken the traditional fairytale and heartily skewered it with a lot more wit and imagination.

Then there's Water Song: A Retelling of the Frog Prince (Once Upon a Time) in the "Once Upon a Time" series that moves the story into a WWI setting, or the beautiful picture book A Frog Prince by Alix Berenzy who (like Baker) plays with a similar twist in the transformation sequence.

I also recall the short-stories "Toad" in Patricia McKillip's Harrowing the Dragon or "The Frogskin Slippers" by Meredith Ann Pierce in Waters Luminous and Deep (Firebird). And John Cleese seems to love playing royal talking frogs in animated movies: he's done so in The Swan Princess (Special Edition) and Shrek 2 (Widescreen Edition). I can even remember the story being used in the old King's Quest Collection computer games in which Princess Rosella has to drop a golden ball into a lily pond in order to kiss the frog and obtain his crown.

The fact is that the market is full of froggy stories, and "The Frog Princess" gets buried under all this competition! The tale of the Frog Prince is a popular fairytale for authors to explore, (with its themes of transformation, beauty-under-the-skin, and just-desserts), and sometimes I don't recommend a book, not because there's something wrong with it, but simply because there are so many better books on the same subject matter out there.

This book is a great book to read if you like suspense, comedy, fantasy, fairy tales, and romance. I was glad that there was going to be a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and in August there is going to be a 5th one in this series. I liked this book so much that the next day i just had to go and buy the 2nd and 3rd one. That is unusual for me because I don't even like to read. It is about a girl who doesn't want to marry this man named Prince Jorge so she runs away and so she goes to this swamp. When she is there she runs along a frog who then asks her to kiss him. She does, but then something goes wrong. She turns into a frog instead of him turning into a prince! You will have to read this book to find out how they fix the mistake.

E.D. Baker's novel, "The Frog Princess" is a magical story revolving around a clumsy fourteen-year-old princess who finds herself getting talked into kissing a seemingly mischievious frog named Eadric, who "claims" he is a prince. After accidentally being turned into a frog herself, Princess Emma and Eadric are forced to go on a long, tedius although hilarious journey to retrieve their normally human forms--but they get into trouble on the way. Princess Emma has her own worries at the palace, however, and isn't sure whether she's just about ready to face those problems--that is, if she ever turns back into a princess! She also is fascinated with her aunt (who is a witch), and wishes to succeed in performing at least ONE spell without making a complete mess of it all. There is light romance, much humor, and a fantastically original plot outlined with E.D. Baker's wonderfully witty and well-written style. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in an incredible fairy-tale that is targetting teen readers.

When Princess Emma finds out that her least favorite prince is coming she heads out to the swamp and she meets an obnoxious little frog that can talk. When the frog finds out that Emma is a princess he asks a favor, a kiss. When Emma heads back to the castle she finds ot that she has to marry Prince Jorge. The next day she returns to the swamp and tells the frog (Prince Eadric) that she has to marry Prince Jorge. Since she has nothing to lose she kisses Eadric. I really like this book and I hope you like it as much as I did. This book is adventurous, funny, and shocking. So what are you waiting for?!

The Frog Princess is a well written fantasy which I believe will ultimately gain more attention and readers than it has so far. The story hooks the reader (a little slowly) once Princess Esmeralda begins to turn into a frog as expected at the end of the third chapter. From there the adventures of the frog princess and her frog prince, Eadric, are fast paced and humorous, especially the details about the difficulties of living life as a frog.

This fantasy includes a variety of conventional magical characters and activities - talking animals, a good witch and a bad witch, a dragon, a giant, a swamp fairy, spells, a magical charm bracelet, a magical forest, and so on - some developed, others just mentioned. While some might criticize this as being "flat", I think these elements make the book easily accessible to children who may not take to Harry Potter right away. It takes less work on the part of the reader to imagine the magical world of the frog princess. I think that many children in the elementary grades would enjoy this take-off on the story of the frog prince. And although I haven't tried this yet, I believe that children as young as 4 or 5 would enjoy it as a read aloud. The frog princess herself, is a good role model for young girls, as she discovers her true self and becomes a confident young princess, who knows what she wants to do with her life.

What would you do if you were a self-conscious, clumsy princess with a laugh like a donkey's bray who turned into a frog by kissing one who claimed to be a prince? Would you find the "frog prince" and seek out the witch who cast the spell? That's exactly what Princess Emeralda did in, The Frog Princess, by E.D. Baker. You would think that in this fantasy Emeralda (Emma) would be happy because she wouldn't have to marry Prince Jorge or listen to her mother's constant corrections, but instead she desperately misses her aunt's motherly affection. After kissing the frog prince (Eadric), Eadric takes Emma to find the witch who cast the spell upon him. Instead they get captured by a witch with evil intentions. Desperate to escape their captor's cage, Emma attempts to perform a spell which will release them. Will the spell work? Here's Emma's dilemma, if it does, should she remain determined to return to her aunt or will she trust Eadric to help her adapt to life as a frog?
I loved this book! I can't wait to read the rest of the series. The story draws you in quickly and is written so well you can feel Emma's emotions! This book is for girls ages 8-14. Baker's use of narrative voice and her convincing character development have the reader drinking in every word. If you like to connect with characters and enjoy losing yourself in a book then read this funny, heart-warming book.