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Having been turned into a frog by a hag, a frog-prince makes the best of his new life as he mates, raises a family, and instills a new kind of thinking into his frog family.Tags
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This book is ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS, especially if you like to read out loud to other people. It takes the well-known fairy tale "The Frog Prince" and gives it a generous dose of spunk and wit. My mom read this to my little brother and me when we were kids (at least 15 years ago), and we still quote parts of it to each other. Trust me ... you NEED this book!
This is very definitely a childrens' book, but I picked it up because I had previously read a couple of more 'mature' books by Napoli: 'Zel', which retells the story of Rapunzel, and was excellent, and 'Beast', which is based on Beauty and the Beast, and was also good. 'The Prince of the Pond' is also a fairy-tale-based book, working with The Frog Prince. As I said, it's definitely for younger readers - but it's also quite funny, with an original take on the story, from the point of view of a female frog who meets the prince after his befuddling transformation - and finds him quite fetching - enough so to forgive his quite un-froglike behavior, and attempt to save him both from himself and the frog-munching witch of the swamp.
Donna Jo Napoli has made a name for herself retelling fairy and folk tales. "Prince of the Pond" (three guesses what this one was based on) is one of her best efforts, in my opinion. It's got a cute, informative story for the kids and some nicely hidden kink for the adults—all very Naono Bohra in feel. The illustrations are quite nice, too.
The Prince of the Pond is a new and interesting take on the frog prince fairy tale. Napoli has chosen to focus her story after the prince has been turned into a frog up until he is turned back into a human. 'De fawg pin' must learn how to swim, jump, talk, eat *gulp* bugs, and above all, become a frog. He changes other frogs' perceptions about themselves and enjoys a sweet love story. Additionally, the author throws in a lot of science about frogs, pond life, and amphibians -- what I call sneaky education. Napoli is so clever, I always enjoy her take on fairy tales.
The life of a prince when he is turned into a frog told from the point of view of a frog who meets and falls in love with him. Like many of Napoli's retellings, this takeoff on the Frog Prince does not end happily ever after for everyone. But until then, the story is wonderful.
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116+ Works 14,403 Members
Donna Jo Napoli was born on February 28, 1948. She received a B.A. in mathematics, an M.A. in Italian literature, and a Ph.D. in general and romance linguistics from Harvard University. She has taught on the university level since 1970, is widely published in scholarly journals, and has received numerous grants and fellowships in the area of show more linguistics. In the area of linguistics, she has authored five books, co-authored six books, edited one book, and co-edited five books. She is also a published poet and co-editor of four volumes of poetry. Her first middle grade novel, Soccer Shock, was published in 1991. Her other novels include the Zel, Beast, The Wager, Lights on the Nile, Skin, Storm, Hidden, and Dark Shimmer. She is also the author of several picture books including Flamingo Dream, The Wishing Club: A Story About Fractions, Corkscrew Counts: A Story About Multiplication, The Crossing, A Single Pearl, and Hands and Hearts. She has received several awards including the New Jersey Reading Association's M. Jerry Weiss Book Award for The Prince of the Pond and the Golden Kite Award for Stones in Water. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Awards
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Prince of the Pond
- Original publication date
- 1992
- Dedication
- To our families,
near and far, up and down and sideways,
and to Lucia, with love.
Donna Jo and Judy
I thank Joanne Casullo, who opened
my eyes to the other sides of fairy tales
with her wonderful poem. May all our
frogs sit under gibbous moons.
D.J.N. - First words
- He was sitting in the middle of the slate walk by the hag's house.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)I looked at the hopeful little faces of my froglets. "Yes," I said. "Fawgs do."
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Statistics
- Members
- 258
- Popularity
- 124,653
- Reviews
- 5
- Rating
- (3.74)
- Languages
- English, German
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 11
- ASINs
- 2
