The Prince of the Pond: Otherwise Known as De Fawg Pin

by Donna Jo Napoli, Judy Schachner (Illustrator)

Overview

From the author of The Magic Circle, Zel, and Stones in Water.

Who is that handsome green stranger? None of the pond dwellers has ever seen the peculiar new frog before. They found him sitting in a pile of human clothes outside the hag’s house. What a strange frog he is! He gets his feet tangled when he tries to jump, he refuses to eat bugs, and he can’t tell a toad from a frog. He calls himself “De Fawg Pin,” and he’s about to turn pond life topsy-turvy!
 
“The frog prince motif has inspired many books, but few as original as this novel.”—Booklist
 
“An animal fantasy that fairy tale readers will relish.”—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, starred review

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780140371512
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	10/01/1994
Series:	Prince of the Pond Series , #1
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.72(h) x 0.45(d)
Lexile:	460L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Donna Jo Napoli is the author of many books for children and young adults including, The Magic Circle, Zel, and Stones in Water. She has won numerous awards, including the Golden Kite Award and the Sydney Taylor Award for Stones in Water.

Editorial Reviews

The frog prince motif has inspired many books, but few as original as this novel.”—Booklist
 
“An animal fantasy that fairy tale readers will relish.”—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, starred review

"Readers will enjoy this funny fairy tale, but they will also learn about what makes frogs different from toads, why they have two vocal sacs, and how the whole mating thing works."—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

This variation on ``The Frog Prince'' is told by Jade, a watchful female frog who teaches the bewitched royal how to survive in the pond. Jade eventually becomes a frog wife and mother to a school of tadpoles. The romance between these two characters, somewhat convoluted and tinged with adult sensibilities, changes Jade's outlook and alters the traditional habits of the frog world. Incorporated into the story are absorbing observations about pond life from a factual perspective. However, Pin's attempts to humanize the frog world are questionable, as his eventual return to human form in front of his amphibian family leaves them saddened and bereft. The story is further weakened by an ongoing, supposedly comic device: the Prince, due to a problem with his tongue, indulges in a kind of baby talk, so that his words emerge as ``fawg'' for frog and ``obteh'' for lobster . Aided little by Schachner's rough-hewn black-and-white drawings (a few witty, some repetitious), the story, sadly, does not measure up to its premise. Ages 7-10. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 4-6-- When a female frog comes upon an attractive but very confused male sitting near a pile of human clothing, she's appalled to see that his feet tangle when he tries to leap, that his tongue keeps falling out of his mouth, and that he doesn't seem to know the first thing about frog behavior or predators. Though she does persuade him to eat bugs, he never learns to speak clearly, with ``I'm De Fawg Pin'' being a typical utterance, and he stubbornly clings to odd ideas (e.g., that the young must be cared for). He also demonstrates reckless, very unfroglike courage, and while rescuing one of his 50 offspring, he suddenly disappears. ``Pin's'' companion never does figure out what's going on, but readers will; his situation and reeducation is defined in broad, comic strokes against an accurate, almost technical, picture of pond ecology. The froggy characters are clearly delineated, and their feelings for one another are genuine, to the point that many readers may greet the prince's reversion to human form with mixed emotions. Ornamental borders and Schachner's pictures of goggle-eyed, expressive frogs in detailed, natural settings give the book a formal, dignified look that plants the tongue even more firmly in cheek. --John Peters, New York Public Library

School Library Journal