Frogged

Frogged by Vivian Vande Velde, 198 pages

Imogene isn’t your usual princess.  She is two weeks away from turning thirteen and her mother has given her an early birthday present, a book, titled, “The Art Of Being A Princess”.  Her mother hopes that if she starts reading it now, then by the time her birthday comes she will finally start to look and act like a real princess.  Instead, Imogene gets fed up with the book and goes for a walk down by the mill pond.  There she encounters a talking frog, who claims to be a prince under an enchantment and he needs her to kiss him to break the spell.  Although she is a little repulsed by the idea of kissing a frog, Imogene, as a princess, knows that she should try to be helpful and kisses him.  He does turn into a boy but, not, as it turns out a prince.  He is actually Harry, the wainwright’s son.  The worst part, however, is that when Imogene kissed him, she turned into a frog.  And, she realizes, the way to break the spell is to get someone to kiss her, who will then turn into a frog themselves.  Not happy with that idea, Imogene sets out to find another way to break the spell and has some interesting adventures along the way.  A really entertaining fractured fairy tale, kids who like funny magic stories will probably enjoy this.