Sonderbooks Book Review of Gracie: The Pixie of the Puddle

Reviewed March 29, 2005.
Dutton Children’s Books, New York, 2004. 133 pages.
Available at Sembach Library (JF NAP).
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2005 (#4, Children's Fiction)

Here’s the third book by Donna Jo Napoli about what really happened to the Frog Prince. In the first book, The Prince of the Pond, we learn about his life and love as a frog. In the second book, Jimmy: The Pickpocket of the Palace, his frog son becomes a human and visits the palace. In this third book, Jimmy’s frog friend Gracie finally figures out what’s going on.

The magic ring is still around, and Jimmy has to choose whether to take life as a human or whether to go back to being a frog. Meanwhile, the hag has been turned into a crocodile, endangering everyone in the pond.

The reason I read the first two books to my son was because this third one had come out. We enjoyed it very much, once it got going, with the crocodile adding a certain urgency to events. We didn’t like the beginning, with a little too much summing up what had gone before, but it does make it so that you don’t have to read the earlier books to know what’s going on.

I always like books that look at the real story of fairy tales. This set of books is a lot of fun.

Reviews of other books by Donna Jo Napoli:
The Prince of the Pond
Jimmy: The Pickpocket of the Palace
Three Days
Fish Girl
Daughter of Venice
The Great God Pan

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Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund

*****Gracie*

The Pixie of the Puddle

by Donna Jo Napoli