salamanderspell

Tales of E.D. Baker

The "Tales of the Frog Princess" series...

The Salamander Spell

Pub. Date: Fall 2007

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

From the Publisher

In this prequel to the Tales of the Frog Princess, Grassina is a young princess-in-training. But as the younger sister to Princess Chartreuse, Grassina is not expected to do much beyond behave herself. When a terrible spell stops her mother from being the good Green Witch, and the Kingdom of Greater Greensward seems to teeter on the brink of terror, Grassina sets off on an errand in the swamp and comes back with some surprises for everyone, including skills that only Chartreuse is supposed to have. Soon it is clear that Grassina has begun to find her own way to the magic she thinks she’ll never have, and luckily for Greater Greensward, the audaciousness—and the ability—to save the kingdom itself.

Reviews

VOYA

In Baker's prequel to her four-part series, The Tales of the Frog Princess, which features Emeralda, readers are treated to the backstory of Emeralda's Aunt Grassina. Older sister Princess Chartreuse is infuriated by her failed efforts to get with the magic program and become the next Green Witch of the Greater Greensward kingdom. Grassina cannot keep a profile low enough to stay out of Chartreuse's rages. When the girls' father inadvertently turns his wife, Queen Olivene, the current Green Witch, into a cruel hag, tragedy befalls the castle. Chartreuse and Olivene heap ever-more abuse on Grassina who rescues Pippa, a wounded snake, and flees to a nearby island. There she meets Haywood, a young boy wizard who is drawn to Grassina's plucky resourcefulness. Just in time, they realize that Grassina has the gift of magic and is pegged to be the next Green Witch. They learn to use her fledgling gifts to ward off attacks from werewolves and an evil manticore, thus saving the kingdom and allowing Grassina to claim her rightful place as the anointed Green Witch. Baker throws a lot into this book-amusing smatterings of light humor, a fairly intense gore factor (beheadings and the bone-crunching demise of several creatures), and an increasingly gooey romantic element toward the end between Haywood and Grassina, which might be too much for her targeted audience. Nevertheless it is a popular series, so buy accordingly.

Gr 5-7

A prequel to The Frog Princess (Bloomsbury, 2003) and the fifth book in the series, this novel features a young Princess Grassina and her family. Her mother, Queen Olivene, the Green Witch, is grooming Grassina's older sister to inherit this title while ignoring Grassina's interest in magic and potential talent. The girls' rivalry and the entire kingdom are turned upside down when their father innocently brings their mother flowers, invoking a curse that changes her into an ugly hag. The queen's gleeful and perplexing antics provide some humor in this story but her disinterest in taking care of her realm threatens the safety of Greater Greensward, leads to the death of the king, and forces Grassina to undertake a quest. This tale satisfyingly explains much of the history behind the other books and gives insight into one of the more interesting characters in The Frog Princess . It continues the evolution of the series from a simple retelling of a well-known fairy tale into an entertaining saga featuring a fully developed magical world of its own.

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