The Prince and the Frog

I thought that this book was genuinely lovely and it is such a nice little tale. One day, Oskar and his sister Caroline meet a prince who was turned into a frog by an evil wizard. Only true love's kiss can break the spell - both Caroline and Oskar want to help, but which of them will be the frog prince's true love? The illustrations in the book are nice, sharp and bright and they really make the book. I thought this was a touching take on the classic children's fairy-tale that explains about same-sex relationships and it encourages children to listen to others, be kind, and embrace diversity and equality regardless of anyone's sexuality.

I am here for stories like this.

This is the perfect story to not only I think explain same sex relationships to young kids, but also aro/ace people to young children and it was awesome to see such a different take on a classic tale.

Though I think the story needs a little more focus in places, I think the story about the relationship growing between the prince and the frog is really nice, and it’s also good to see a female character saying actually ‘this isn’t my thing’ and the flip of gender roles.

Combined with this you have the incredible illustrations. The characters and scenes are drawn really nicely and develop the story incredibly well, particularly the scenes at the beginning of the book where we are introduced to Oskar and Caroline.

A wonderful story for representation, equality and a really good tale.

*thank you to Netgalley and Jessica Kingsley Publishers for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

5 stars.
OMG this was way too cute!!! I absolutely loved it! And it was a decent length aswell which I really appreciated. It wasnt just a 20 page read but felt that it had an actual atory to it rather than it being a short picture book. It is a retelling of the classic 'The Frog Prince' where in this version, its not the girl who breaks the spell, but her brother instead. I really liked how it shows that love develops over time, once you get to know a person rather than instantly falling in love which is way less real (well, in my opinion anyway). It was beautifully told and the illustrations are perfect for young readers, bright and colourful. I think all little kids should read this, (or this be read to them). Its adorable and definitely now my favourite version of the classic story.

You know what we need? More LGBTQ fairy tales like this one, which is very gentle, and not preachy at all, just a cute tale of love and friendship, where instead of the princess kissing the front, the prince does.

And you know why we need to have this sort of book? We need to allow kids to know that there is nothing wrong with their feelings, that princes can fall in love with magical frogs that are really princes too.

And we need it not only for the youth out there that feel this way, but also for the kids that don't, so they know there is nothing wrong with it either.



Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

--I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are purely my own and not influenced in any way.--

This was a really cute retelling of the classic princess and the frog story and a nice introduction for kids to LGBT+ relationships and just love in general. I looked how it was okay for the princess to NOT want love and how the relationship didn't feel forced, but natural. Only drawback is the art: I liked the story, but the pictures just didn't do it for me.

First and foremost, this is a nice, accessible and well illustrated fairy tale. The nice bonus here, is that this can obviously be used as a jumping off point for lessons on same-sex relationships or when covering LGBTQ issues in general. The text and story itself is accessible for children aged 4+ and this seems an easy starting point for children of this age. It would be nice to see more children's books which offer characters avoiding traditional stereotypes like this one.

Cute story. Though it reads like a pseudo-fairytale, it feels like a nonfiction description of falling in love (or not) for kids.

I got this book as part of an effort to complete a reading bingo where I needed a retelling of a fairy tale, though I am also a fan of queer books for children. I did enjoy this book for the most part.

The art was simple and cute. It was wonderful to see a prince and princess that weren't white. It was also wonderful to see a princess that saw something else for her life that wasn't love (it was incredibly easy to read Caroline as asexual which was amazing!). Caroline and Oskar had different interests, but they respected each other. Neither of them was ever seen as superior to the other.

Oskar is a kind boy, one that tries to take care of others. His pursuits are much softer than his sisters. I didn't think that he was blatantly more feminine, but if I read too much into it then he was. His sister liked adventures and climbing trees. He liked being quiet and staying safe. So while I liked that Caroline (think Brave) was allowed to have a personality, it made me sad to see Oskar as so feminine. I think that will alienate the more rough and tumble boys from being able to empathize with Oskar because he will be so different from them. 

My only issue with how the story was told was one word choice. I understand that writing children's books can be hard because of the limited vocabulary that a three year old would have. I can't understand the use of "whilst" as a word choice for a 3-7 age group. Everything else makes perfect sense and is very easy to read, then bam that one word that would be out of place even in an adult book. 

Those are my only two issues though and I had to stretch to find them. This book is amazingly cute and allows for a very gentle approach to two men being together. It also allowed girls to see themselves as something other than a wife or a mother, which is huge in my mind. This book will be wonderful for young girls and some young boys.

A wonderful story that shares a fairy tale setting of how two people fall in love. Whether it be same sex or opposite, this story deems light in both scenarios with a beautiful ending. In this day and age where there are parents and families with all kinds of relationships happening from divorced to gays couples, I think books like this are so important for our bookshelves. Most importantly are the ones that give the examples in a loving, gentle, clear and understanding way...The Prince and the Frog does just that.

I had a great time reading The Prince and the Frog. The illustrations are beautiful and really jump off the page. They convey the emotions of the characters wonderfully and help bring this story to life. Oskar and Caroline are both simple kids who just want to help someone out. This book did a great job telling children about same sex relationships and that there is nothing wrong with that at all.

A nice way of telling a story about a same-sex relationship to children. The illustrations aren't really going to set the world alight, but they do their job fine, and though it doesn't do anything particularly special with the story it's telling, I'm sure it would serve it's intended purpose well.