FernFolio

Princess Esmeralda is the despair of her mother. Lacking in the social graces, clumsy and bored by self-absorbed suitors, she prefers exploring the flora and fauna of the swamp and visiting her aunt Grassina, a witch, to attending formal balls. When she trips and frightens away some grasshoppers in the swamp one day, a frog complains that she has deprived him of his dinner. Upon discovering that she is a princess, the frog asks for a small favour, a kiss to change him back into a prince. But, when she finally places her lips on those of the frog, something unexpected happens. Esmeralda is transformed into a frog herself and needs Eadric’s help to survive in her new body. Fortunately, Eadric proves to be a very chivalrous sort of frog, willing to show Emma how to swim and hop and catch flies, though he finds her initial ineptitude hilarious. He also shows her that a frog’s life can be a pleasant one, filled with twilight concerts of peepers and bullfrogs at the stream’s edge and mornings frolicking in the pond, just as long as you can find enough to eat and avoid being eaten!
But Emma wants to be human again, and persuades Eadric to go in search of the witch who cast the spell on him. Their search ends when a witch catches them and places them in a cage, ready to be used in a spell to give her everlasting youth and beauty. Fortunately, Emma makes friends with the other creatures held captive by the witch and, with their help, works a little magic of her own to free them all.
Emma’s and Eadric’s travels take them next through a magic forest, full of wonderful enchantments and hidden dangers, accompanied and, possibly, protected by a snake named Fang and a timid little bat named Li’l.
Fortunately, this is a fairy tale so in the end our friends live happily ever after, but not before they experience both excitement and terror, and learn some very important lessons about magic.
We have all read the fairy tale of the spoilt princess who agreed to invite a frog home in exchange for rescuing her golden ball from the bottom of the pond. In this story has been transformed by E. D. Baker, whose characters are endearing and believable and funny, and who proves that a good book is pure magic.
The Girls’ Book Club has chosen The Frog Princess as one of their second books of the year.
FernFolio Editor