The Frog Princess

snicker9 - The Frog Princess is one of my favorite books. Princess Emeralda, otherwise known as Princess Emma, is not your typical princess. She clumsy, and has the laugh of a donkey, and she doesn't like the self-centered Prince Jorge who her mother wants her to marry. Instead she likes to explore the swamp and and learning about magic from her Aunt Grassina. One day when she is in the swamp, she meets a talking frog named Eadric. Eadric claims to be a prince, and he needs Emma to kiss him to turn him back into a prince. Emma consents, but something goes horribly wrong when Emma turns into a frog as well. Now Emma and Eadric must make a journey full of danger and predators in order to find a cure. I absolutly love this book, and the rest of the series. E.D. Baker is a fantastic writer, and her stories are weaved with magic and plot twists! I recommend this book to middle grade kids, around ages 8-12. I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.

November 18, 2002
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.