Frog Bride - Hardcover

Barber, Antonia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1845074769 ISBN 13: 9781845074760

Publisher: Lincoln Children's Books, 2008

Synopsis

A Russian tsar tells each of his three sons to shoot an arrow and marry the woman he finds where the arrow lands. Imagine the feelings of the youngest son when he discovers a large frog holding his arrow in her mouth. He marries the frog, only to discover that each night she changes into a beautiful princess. But will he ever have a flesh-and-blood human wife to call his own?? Virginia Lee's haunting, other-worldly illustrations transform Antonia Barber's elegant retelling of a Russian folk tale into an enchanting fairytale classic.

About this title

About the Author:

Alan Lee, winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal, illustrated the centenary editions of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and, more recently, The Children of Hurin. He lives in South Devon, U.K.

Antonia Barber's The Ghosts was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and adapted into the film The Amazing Mr. Blunden. The Mousehole Cat was a finalist for the Smarties Prize, winner of the 1990 British Book Award, and Commended for the 1991 Kate Greenaway Medal; it was later made into an animated film. She lives in Cornwall, U.K.

Review:

This sumptuous version of a traditional Russian story holds within it fragments of other fairy tales familiar to American readers. A king tells his three sons each to shoot an arrow in the air "and seek your bride where the arrow falls." The youngest, Ivan, shoots his into the marshlands, where it lands near a "very small, very ugly frog." The queen puts three tasks to the frog and the two women the older boys find, and the frog performs them best. One night the prince sees her climb out of her froggy skin (the pictures of this are marvelous and entirely unrevealing) to do the work in beauteous human form. Hoping to fix her in human form, the prince burns the frog skin, but she flees instead to her grandmother Baba Yaga. Can Ivan win her back? Lee's oils in her picture-book debut are richly colored and finely designed, with swoops and curves and glorious patterns. The text is clear and rhythmic, and the images draw the eye again and again. (Picture book/fairy tale. 6-9) --Kirkus Review

The gorgeous Arabian Nights - style pictures glow mysteriously as we follow the prince on his desperate mission to find and win his princess. There are lots of potential talking points in the pictures which could inspire some exciting art work. --Child Education Plus

About this edition

• Publisher: Lincoln Children's Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1845074769
• ISBN 13: 9781845074760
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 36
• Illustrator: Lee Virginia