Another princess and the frog version. Imogene is supposed to be reading a book about how princesses should behave, all the proper behavior. She encounters a talking frog who says she must kiss him to turn him back into a prince. She’s reluctant, and something seems off about their conversation- this frog doesn’t have good manners or proper grammar for example- but she obliges, having just read in her book reminders about being kind and doing good for others. And quickly finds out that: the frog wasn’t a prince, but an ordinary boy (and a rather rude one at that). Worse, reversing the spell on him turns her into a frog. And now she’s stuck in a quandary: how does she get back to being human, without cursing someone else by turning them into a frog? She can’t think of what to do, so she tries to make her way home to the castle- which is difficult, being a small frog and it’s quite a distance. Imogene-the-frog soon realizes what danger she’s in from things like cart wheels, people’s feet, larger animals. She has to get over her human disgust at eating bugs, and is intrigued to find that she now understands what real frogs’ croaking and ‘ribbits’ mean, but disappointed that they don’t actually say much to each other. Of course she tries to tell anybody she encounters that she’s really a princess and needs help, but they all think it’s some trick, or she’s an actual frog that’s been magically given the ability to speak, or been specially trained. It’s all very tiresome and frustrating. Worse, some people try to take advantage of her. Most notably, she gets held captive by a group of traveling actors, who use her in their performances. Eventually though she encounters someone who believes she’s telling the truth, and finally a solution is found to breaking the spell. It wasn’t at all what I expected, and so obvious and clever that I laughed out loud.
Definitely going to look for more by this author, when I’m in the need for easy reads.
Borrowed from the public library. Completed on 7/30/24.
