The Frog Prince

by Kathy-jo Wargin (Adapted By), Anne Yvonne Gilbert (Illustrator), Jacob Grimm

The youngest daughter of the king lives a very special life, indeed. Her days are spent in lovely gowns, playing happily with her favorite golden ball. When her beloved ball is lost, she strikes a bargain for its return with a thick, green frog—a deal she doesn’t intend to keep! But the ugly frog, refusing to be left behind by the fleeing princess, insists she share her life with him as promised.

This Brothers Grimm tale of a spoiled princess finding her handsome prince by breaking a witch’s spell has enchanted readers since it was written in the early 1800s. With enchantingly elegant illustrations, Anne Yvonne Gilbert brings Kathy-jo Wargin’s retelling of the classic to a new generation of readers.

Genres: Picture Books, Fairy Tales, Childrens, Animals, Fantasy, Royalty, Fiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published February 13, 2006

About the author

Kathy-jo Wargin is the bestselling author of more than fifty books for adults and children. With more than 1.2 million copies sold, she writes across genres and age-groups, and has earned national recognition for award–winning titles such as Michigan’s Official State Children’s Book The Legend of Sleeping Bear, the International Reading Association’s Children's Choice Award Winner The Legend of the Loon, the Bank Street College of Education Best Book Listee The Voyageur’s Paddle, the IRA Teacher's Choice Award Winner Win One for the Gipper, and many more.

Reviews

[Set · Rating 4 out of 5]

It reminds me of my childhood! =] The pictures are beautiful and the story is still as funny as always.

[♥♣Mary♦♠ If She So Pleases · Rating 5 out of 5]

The illustrations in this book are absolutely gorgeous.


✨✨✨✨✨

[Shiloah · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all, don’t you hate reviews that start with first of all’s?
Second of all, the illustrations were beautiful but the prince—is blech! Justin Timberlake look-alike? And he wears earrings as big as his princess. Double yuck!
And finally, this story is lacking. Large parts of the story were skipped over leaving us with an incoherent greater picture. For instance, she throws the frog against the wall and he becomes a prince. Next page, they are being married. Hmmm. Were pages missing when this went to press?

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the artwork And the story was good, but I thought she had to kiss the frog...in this version she threw him against the wall. hmmm

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations here are amazing. Absolutely amazing. The story is the original Grimm tale. I had forgotten that she doesn't kiss him. She gets annoyed by the frog and throws him against the wall. Of course, they immediately marry. I honestly thought I had skipped a page, because it goes straight from he turned into a prince to the wedding.

Still, a nice introduction to the tale.

[Rachel Bush · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustrations in this book were amazing!

[Shanice Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such as good story. I have never read The Frog Prince before now. I like the message that was in the story that you should never go back on promises.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun illustrations. Jack and I agreed that the princess didn’t act very nicely

[Priscilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations are amazing, but I would never have married this brat princess!

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

While it starts off with great promise "in days of old when wishing still made things so..." this book is nicely retold with classically lovely illustrations, but it is a retelling of the German (original) version where (spoiler alert) the princess, repelled by the prospect of a frog in her bed, throws it against the wall where he becomes a handsome prince and with the spell broken, they are free to marry. The later English translations had a less violent ending, more of a beauty and the beast vibe where love or at least tolerance makes the frog less repellent, and those versions seem to be more in line with today's sensibilities.
I'm not even going to get into the whole symbolism and inference thing here (which is actually why fairy tales are so much fun retold in YAs) but a picture book where the sulky fearful princess solves her problem by killing a frog and is rewarded by a wedding to a prince? (hello PETA, hello Feminists) Where would I even start to list how this concept would not be working for parents and young children in my library storytimes, and if it is not written for them, then for who?

[Sarah Brock]

My favorite part of this book would probably have to be the illustrations. They looked very artistic, like they had been drawn by hand, as opposed to some books in which the illustrations look computer generated. Moving on the story line, while I was reading I had to actually check and make sure I hadn't skipped a page in the book. It struck me as odd that as soon as the princess threw the frog against the wall, he turned into a prince and then instantly, they got married. I felt like I had missed an important part of the story. As a child I may not have thought anything of it, but now I think it is an odd message to send- that as soon as the frog turned into a handsome man, the princess automatically married him.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting to read a version of The Frog Prince that seems to be quite close to the original Grimm story. Here the princess meets the frog when she drops her golden ball into his well. She promises that he can come and live with her if he gets the ball back out of the well. Of course she wants to reneg on her promise, but her father makes her keep her promise. Interesting to see that it isn't a kiss that transforms the frog here, but the princess throwing him against the wall in frustration. Lovely illustrations by Anne Yvonne Gilbert.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

The illustrations in this book are heartbreakingly beautiful, but it is the classic Brothers Grimm version of the story. I've always found the Frog Prince to be a bit of a strange story because the princess is basically being blackmailed by this frog, she's repulsed by him, she never shows him any kindness and he is never anything but needy, and the get married. This one has the added bonus of tossing the frog against the wall in anger to break the curse. True love indeed!

[Meltha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is straight-up the Grimm version of the tale with very little deviation whatsoever, including the princess throwing the frog at the wall and the inclusion of Faithful Henry. I believe the frog speaking in poetry might be new. The illustrations are lovely, though the time period is a bit odd (early Tudor, basically). The problem remains, though, with the content of the story. I will say the wedding dress at the end is very lovely.

[Janis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a well-written version of the original story and a good one for reading to younger children. The pictures are incredibly detailed and beautiful. Fantastic artwork--I would buy the book just for the artwork. I just think it's so sad to have her so mean and still get the prince in the end. And poor Henry the servant...read it to see what I mean!

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

The illustrations in this book are amazing. The story, however, is not. It starts out beautifully, but gradually becomes more and more choppy until I kept thinking I had skipped a page or two. Perhaps I am just too cynical for fairy tales or maybe it's because I've never like frogs, but I just didn't like the story.

[Carla]

I read this book to my preschool class but thank goodness I read through it before I read it to the class! I think the wording of the frog wanting to sleep in the princess' bed with her is inappropriate. Then, instead of kissing the frog to turn him into the prince, she throws it against the wall!!! How awful is that?!!
BOOOOOOOHHHH!!

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a weakness for the gory horrible Grimm versions of fairy tales. The frog prince has never been one of my favorites though. Moira is drawn to the illustrations in this version and doesn't seem to be repulsed by the blackmail and frog throwing.

[Sarah Lane · Rating 3 out of 5]

The tale of The Frog Prince based on The Brothers Grimm. This is a story of a spoiled princess that takes care of a frog after he helps her find her ball. In this version the frog turns into a prince after she throws him up against a wall, not by kissing him like in other versions.

[A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most beautiful illustrations, but no real lesson revealed. The princess did not want to keep her promise to the frog after he saved her gold ball from the well. She threw him against the wall, he turns into a handsome prince and the princess and him marry anyway.

[Alexandria Hiam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most beautiful illustrations, but no real lesson revealed. The princess did not want to keep her promise to the frog after he saved her gold ball from the well. She threw him against the wall, he turns into a handsome prince and the princess and him marry anyway.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pictures are amazing! The story just makes me sad that the rude princess gets the prince. I guess that is life sometimes.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love the illustrations in this one!

[Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great illustrations!

[Mykael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it a lot, the same story again, but the art was really fun. All colored pencils! Amazing!

[Kayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story went from a five to a three real quickly in the last three pages. They seemed to come out of absolute nowhere and ruined the fairytale story. Wth??? Beautiful pictures, though!!!

[Saffron Moon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This rating is for the edition adapted by Kathy-Jo Wargin and illustrated by Anne Yvonne Gilbert.

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A FRACTURED retelling of the traditonal story

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations