Wednesday, February 6, 2008

THE PROG FRINCE: A MIXED UP TALE


Lamm, C. Drew. 1999. THE PROG FRINCE: A MIXED UP TALE. Orchard Books. New York, New York. ISBN 0531301354

This story is a mixed up fairy tale of the original FROG PRINCE. At the beginning we meet a girl named Jane who becomes disgruntled when a frog steals her muffin money. She follows the frog and is told a story by him. In this zany tale a prince and a girl, Jaylee, fall in love but the father won’t allow them to marry because she is not a princess. The king tries to give his son a potion that will make him fall out of love and instead he turns into a frog. As the story progresses Jane begins to rally like the frog and when he disappears suddenly he misses him. Then to the readers surprise Jane turns into Jaylee and the frog turns back into the prince and they, of course, live happily ever after. There are references to other fairy tale as well, like when the old woman asks Jane if she as ever heard of THE BOY WHO CRIED WOLF. The pictures remind me of the classic fairy tale illustrations which is so appropriate for this story. Lamm uses alliteration to play on the word muffins using items from the prince’s palace such as “millions of murals, mirrors, marionettes, etc. This is a creative fractured fairy tale that children of all ages will enjoy.

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