I can write about…well, what shall I write about? There are too many good books in the world.
Lemme think… for a sec. BRB
10 minutes and a snack later:
I’ve figured it out! By being smart and looking at my sidebar, I found out that I HAVEN’T TALKED ABOUT E.D. FRICKIN BAKER YET!!!!!!!!!
Wow. I can’t believe I missed it. This incredible series.
So. The Frog Princess. NOT the annoying Disney “new” classic that has just come out. Sorry, Dani (my classmate for those of you who did not know that until now), but I think it completely ruins the image of the series. I mean, movies 99% of the time do that to their original book. This book always makes me smile, especially on days when I feel like crap and want nothing more than to sit down and read. Yes, read read read read read.
Princess Emeralda. Ok, first of all, that is the best name ever for this character. It just oozes of royalty that isn’t there. Better known as plain “Emma”, the princess is a feisty, unusual girl who is not the average princess. Yes, we readers have heard the “not the average princess” plot before, but don’t judge until you hear the rest. Her mother is queen of Greater Greensward, and her father the king. Emma has grown up knowing that she doesn’t fit. I mean, look at her mother. Prim, proper, faints when she’s supposed to, the works. Well, at least Grassina, Emma’s aunt, doesn’t fit in either. The connection? They’re both witches. Of course, Emma doesn’t know that at the the beginning of the series, because she believes that she sucks at magic. Well, you know what? Emma’s awesome. No matter what she says. Did I mention that the book is in first person, with the princess narrating? Creative position, I think. Or maybe E.D. Baker was bored and threw it in there.
In this world, magic is a common thing. In Greater Greensward, it is welcomed, as the Green Witch (has to be the nicest witch in Greater Greensward AKA Grassina) has protected the country for centuries. In Upper Montevista, magic is despised.
So, enough with the bg stuff. Emma meets Eadric, a frog in the first book. She kisses him, and instead of the oh-so-predictable-”the frog turns into a prince-story, we get a different ending. Emma turns into a frog.
And so, the end becomes the beginning. Emma and Eadric deal with tolerating each other, and Emma tries to find a way to reverse the spell. Pretty original, I would say. It’s funny, fast-paced in a good way, and has “sophisticated language” as one critic put it. I personally found this book while rooting around in my elementary school library, and after reading the first book, I found the second book. And the third book. And then I had to wait a couple of years for the fourth one and the fifth one to come out. After I read those, another few years, and out comes two more, about…well, I shouldn’t say because then it gives it away. Hey, I rhymed! Some people may feel that the plot is more for kids, but the language is so “sophisticated” that I could read it now and still be blown away. One thing that is different about most fantasy books is that the whole story is really, really casual for a whole magic/fantasy thing. I had no trouble at all believing anything. I guess that’s one quirk I love to death. I have to hand it to E.D. Baker, who is in fact a woman, she produced 7 really good books, the 7th being a little terrible but giving a happy close to the book. Yes, Mrs. Baker has said that there will be no more for this series. Luckily, she has other books (Wings, which is really awesome–I will probably do a review on it sometime).
Here is the list of the Tales of the Frog Princess Series just so you can see what I’ve been talking about for the past 5 paragraphs:
The Frog Princess (first one)
Dragon’s Breath (starts up right after end of first one)
Once Upon a Curse (“ending to trilogy”, that is until she came out with another one)
No Place For Magic (follow-up to what i call the original three)
The Salamander Spell (prologue to the Frog Princess–it’s about Grassina, not my favorite, but still kinda cool)
Dragon Princess (what might turn out to be my favorite one in a while)
Dragon Kiss (the slightly terrible one)
I don’t know. I guess what I really like about this series is that it’s funny, but it’s also really romantic in a down to earth kind of way. And I don’t mean like, kiss-romantic. I just mean simple love for a person or people. It’s a little predictable in a loving kind of way. If that made no sense, don’t worry, I didn’t get it either.
There’s also an audiobook for this series, well at least for the first four books, I think. They are wonderful; I love the narrator, and you can get them on iTunes if you don’t live near a library. This is one modern classic that I feel (or at least wish) will stay famous and loved by everybody for a very long time.
Oh no, I fear I have overdone myself. Oh well, more reading for you people.
7.5 stars (yes you readers know how stingy I am with stars, so this is unusual-also new readers, the ratings are out of 8 stars)
~Oh Wherefore art thou Romeo? (which actually means “why Romeo”? not “where is Romeo”? – don’t laugh, i did not know this)

