The Frog Prince

A very attractive retelling of the traditional story. As one would expect, the illustrations are arresting, formal in style and moonlit in colouration, with interesting borders to each page. This princess moves from the haughty and cold to the warm and childlike in the process of the telling and in so doing makes explicit to the adult reader the sexual connotations of the story. The princess must marry the frog prince because 'three times, yes, three times, she had allowed the frog to sleep with her' and both the words and the pictures enhance the ambiguities of the situation. The language is formal and the total effect quite spellbinding for children.