By Laura Cecil
Illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark
Published Greenwillow Book New York, 1994
ISBN 0-688-13506-4
Annotation
Three sons must find wives that will pass their mothers tests. The third son finds a frog that outdoes them all.
Personal Reaction
Maybe its because I just read the love affair between two dads book, but this is a missed opportunity book for the celebration of difference and marriage of a different kind, or no marriage at all. The over bearing Queen mother insists that her eccentric sons marry, but only women that pass her tests. Ridiculous and endearing at the same time, of course. I tend to fall into these prince princess stories too easily. I think this story would be a great theatrical production, possibly tweaking it for the LGBTQ club. You see, the quirky third son falls for a frog, who passes all the test, how lovely. Then the frog turns into a perfect princess, blah. But what if you opened the discussion up to the students, what would be a realistic thing for the frog to turn into, another man? And what if the prince brought a man to marry, a perfect test passing man, or maybe a frog? The creative and political ideas for a dramatic retelling could be really fun in a high school or middle school setting.
watercolor
Curricular connections
Fairytale
Fitting in
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