The queen of the frogs

PreS-Gr 2-In this original picture book fairy tale, life in a community of frogs is abruptly changed when a crown is dropped into the pond. An expert diving frog retrieves it and is pronounced the queen. Other frogs become part of her court as she begins to demand royal attention and entertainment and all the entitlements of her queenly position. She also needs to be the best at everything, and a diving contest organized to amuse her becomes her downfall. The other frogs encourage the queen to show them what a wonderful diver she is, and as she demonstrates, the crown falls off her head and is lost in the muddy pond. Without a queen, the frogs return to their egalitarian ways. Using line drawings subtly colored in shades of green, Somà has depicted a happy community of frogs sitting on lily pads, dapperly dressed in sailor shirts. The story conveys how leadership can fail when it is not handled properly and how the common frog will find a way to prevail. VERDICT A simple, enjoyable fable that should spark discussion. A fine choice for a storytime; readers will want to pore over the lovely naturalistic art.-Carole Phillips, Greenacres Elementary School, Scarsdale, NY © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Pond life: an interrupted idyll."Once upon a time there was a pond, and in that pond lived a lot of frogs." And they are a fine-looking army of frogs, decked out in French sailor shirts, singing songs, nabbing flies, snoozing, and attending to their coffee and paper on lily pads as delicate as etchings, all courtesy of Som. Alas, one day a frog-sized crown falls into the water. One expert diver of a frog surfaces with the trophy and plops it on. A few other frogs get it into their heads that they will be her advisers and start bossing the other frogs around. Cali does not make it clear why this is so, since the frogs have seemingly always lived a democratic life and none of them "had ever seen a queen, and no one knew what to do or say. Finally, one of the frogs shouted, Long live the queen!' " Despite the milieu, this doesn't feel very organic. The queen takes on airs and entitlements; she is all-powerful and the best at everything. The other frogs even have to entertain her, such as the diving contest organized by the advisers. The common frogs urge the queen to dive, to show them how she is the best. She does, and predictably, the crown falls off and sinks into the mud. The metaphorical queen is dead; long live the common frog. A lovely but garbled fable. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.