Tales of the Frog Princess, book 5.

Prequel to The Frog Princess. Fans of the series will enjoy the background provided here--how Olivene became a hag, the relationship between Grassina and Chartreuse, and the way that Haywood and Grassina met and fell in love.

There are no new plot developments here. The book's purpose is simply to fill in the backstories of characters who appear in the series. Fans of the series will love it, but I would recommend starting with The Frog Princess and working into this one later, rather than starting with it. ( )

Reviewed by Jeremey for TeensReadToo.com

No, this is not a story about Princess Emeralda and Prince Eadric.

This new story, which is a prequel to THE TALES OF THE FROG PRINCESS, visits Princess Emeralda's aunt....as a teenager!

Living in Greater Greensward with her mother, father, and sister, Chartreuse, Grassina is not expected to do much. Chartreuse was first born, which means she will be both Queen and Green Witch. All Grassina is expected to do is to marry a prince.

When the King gives their mother a bouquet of flowers the family curse turns her into a nasty hag and also disperses of her Green Witch title. Now Greater Greensward has no Green Witch to protect them.

While doing a meaningless task for her mother, Grassina hears word of werewolves invading towns and nearing Greater Greensward. With no Green Witch, who will stop them? Its up to magicless Grassina, runaway Haywood, and a snake named Pippa to save the kingdom.

As a fan of THE TALES OF THE FROG PRINCESS, I thought this was a good prequel. The book reads smoothly and gives Grassina more personality than that which we already knew. If you read the books released before THE SALAMANDER SPELL you know the outcome, but nevertheless it's a good read. ( )

Another entertaining book by E. D. Baker. I didn't like it quite as much as I liked The Dragon Princess - there seemed to be a lot more things left unexplained in this book - but it was still fun and reminds me of books I loved when I was younger, The Farthest-Away Mountain, The Ordinary Princess, books like that. ( )

When Grassina's mom is turned into an evil hag by a curse, it is up to Grassina to take up the mantle of Green Witch and and save her family's kingdom.

Cute and interesting prequel to the Tales of the Frog Princess. In this story, we read about Grassina and Chartreuse (Emma's aunt and mother) as they come of age. We see first-hand the transformation of Olivene into the wicked witch she is when the Tales of the Frog Princess first begin and the problems this causes for the kingdom. It was a nice change in perspective for the stories and I think Grassina was a good choice for the focus of the prequel. The one thing I was surprised to see was that Baker did not make Chartreuse more sympathetic in this prequel. She just isn't a likable character, ever. I also would have liked Baker to go a little bit further in her timeline instead of ending the story when she did. Regardless, still a very nice addition to the Frog Princess works. ( )