Synopsis
Forced to marry an ugly frog, the youngest son of the queen is astounded to learn that the frog is really a beautiful princess
Reviews
PreSchool-Grade 3?In this delightful retelling, the Queen orders her three sons to find wives. Bruno, who loves to eat, finds the baker's daughter, and Lucca, who changes clothes every two hours, finds the tailor's daughter. But Marco, who is a dreamer, finds only a frog. The Queen gives the prospective brides three tasks?to bake bread, to weave cloth, and to train a puppy. Each time Marco despairs that the frog will not be able to succeed, but magically and cleverly she does. Marco agrees to marry her, and she leaves the pond on a lily pad drawn by two snails. Once in the forest, the enchantment is broken, and the amphibian turns back into a princess. Cecil's witty retelling is based on Italian versions and "The Frog" from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book (Dover, 1966), though it is much more entertaining than Lang's version. The beginning is similar to J. Patrick Lewis's The Frog Princess (Dial, 1994), but that tale is based on a Russian "Vasilisa/Baba Yaga" story. The watercolor illustrations are a perfect accompaniment to the text. Clark's depiction of the princes and their brides aptly show their personalities and are full of humor. The bright palette enlivens the visual experience and will draw children into the story. Appropriate for independent reading or reading aloud, this tale will make quite a splash!?Cheri Estes, Dorchester Road Regional Library, Charleston,
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Cecil and Clark, previously paired for Listen to This and A Thousand Yards of Sea, team up again for this chipper version of an oft-told tale. Fate has promised Prince Marco to a frog bride. Dutifully accepting his lot, Marco receives help from his small green fiancee in demonstrating her cleverness to the queen, who has set various tests for her three sons' brides. But when Marco's official proposal of marriage is accepted, the amphibian metamorphoses into a beautiful woman. Cecil's text is true to its origins, though her phrasing and vocabulary often stray hilariously from the traditional. "She can't come because she has a croak in her throat," is one of Marco's funnier excuses for the frog's absence from court; Marco's portly brother marries a baker's daughter who "looked good enough to eat," etc. Clark's typically kicky watercolors rely, appropriately, on greens and bluish hues here. The characterizations are dead-on, especially the wide-eyed innocence of Marco and the benevolent expressions on the frog bride's face. Ages 4-up.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Ages 4-8. Stories featuring the frog bride are becoming as popular as those about the frog prince. Lewis' version drew on Russian folklore. Now Cecil draws freely from Italian versions to tell the fairy tale of three princes commanded by the queen to find a wife. Bruno loves to eat, and he finds a baker's daughter. Lucca loves clothes, and he finds a tailor's daughter. But the youngest son, Marco, is a dreamer, and the only bride he finds is a little green frog. The queen sets three tasks, and each time the frog comes through for Marco. When he asks the frog to marry him, he destroys the power of a cruel enchanter; his bride is transformed into her true self, a princess as beautiful as she is clever. Clark's line-and-watercolor illustrations have their usual appealing combination of farce and gentleness, picking up the absurdity and the romance. Words and pictures combine a medieval setting with a contemporary tone that will be great for reading aloud. Hazel Rochman
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