Vande Velde, Vivian. Frogged.

Vande Velde, Vivian.  Frogged.  Houghton Mifflin/Harcourt Brace  2013  198p  ISBN 978-0-547-94215-5  ms  Hardback  VG-BN  Fairy tales

Vande Velde has written a lighthearted rendition of The Princess and the Frog in this reworking of the classic fairytale.  Princess Imogene, almost a teenager, is relaxing by the millpond deciding whether or not she lives up the image of a true princess when she is convinced by a talking frog to save him from an evil curse by kissing him.  This is guaranteed to turn him back to a human, but it also turns the unknowing Imogene into a frog.  The curse has been passed from one creature to another, and kindhearted Imogene doesn’t want to continue to spread it if she can avoid it.  She is discovered and carried off by group of itinerant actors who plan to make good use of their talking frog in their show.  As they get further from home, Imogene must convince one of the actors to take her back and help her find a way to return to her true form.  It will be up to Imogene and her frantic mother to figure out how to effect the exchange without continuing the curse.  All’s well that ends well in this fine addition to the canon of fractured fairytales.  This book will be a very good addition to any middle-school library. 

Summary: Vande Velde has written a lighthearted rendition of The Princess and the Frog in this reworking of the classic fairytale. 

Fairy tales                                                       --Susan Ogintz