THE PRINCESS AND THE FROGS

Sometimes a prince is not what a princess needs.

Although Princess Cassandra, a dark-haired white girl who wears glasses and a tiara, has everything, she isn’t happy; she lacks a best friend. She decides that the friend she is missing must be a pet that matches her favorite green dress, swims, plays, jumps, and will sleep on her pillow. Well, the servants bring forth lots of pets that don’t match that description until at last presenting Cassandra with a frog. All is wonderful until she kisses him goodnight and poof! he turns into a prince. The thankful prince wants to marry her. But: “Princes aren’t pets. I want a frog!” She puts him to work in the castle. This happens so many times the castle is overrun by boy servants. Even her favorite frog turns into a prince, but this one is extremely unhappy as a boy; he likes being a frog and has nowhere to go as a human. After several days during which Cassandra is friendless and the boy is listless, she accidentally kisses him as she is soothing him, and the two live happily ever after…so long as she refrains from puckering up. Palacios’ watercolor, graphite, and digital illustrations portray a delightful array of facial expressions on both the humans and the frogs. Human diversity is introduced in the multiplicity of princes, but most of the significant characters appear to be white.

A refreshing princess book that puts kissing in its place and rejoices in childhood idylls.