Spells

This story by Emily Gravett tells the story of a green frog who dreams big. He wants to go sailing on a pirate ship and live in a castle with beautiful princesses but he is "just a small green frog."

He is playing with this book of spells and all the pages are torn because of his day dreaming. He finds a piece that says, "Spell to become a Handsome Prince," and he becomes determined to put the spell together. The following pages are of spells put together that transforms him into different creatures until he finally finds the right spell. When he is a prince, he finds a beautiful princess, kisses her, and transforms back into a small green frog as the princess walks away. And the last page shows an image of a piece of a page in the spell book that shows "small print" warning that if he kissed a real princess, he would turn back into a frog.

Personally, I did not enjoy this book very much because I was so confused at how it was supposed to be read so I did not understand what was happening until I got halfway through the story. And the rest was just strange to me; for instance, when the frog turned into a prince, it was a little inappropriate because pieces of pages of the spell book were covering his private parts. And it was a bit cruel to me that the prince would turn back into a frog after all the work he had done to become a prince but I guess not all books can have happy endings.
Despite all that I didn't enjoy, the illustrations were great and drew me in as I read! I really like how the author used this book as the accessory that the frog used in the story. The author is known for her illustrations which did make the book fun to read at times. I wouldn't use this story to teach any particular lesson but as an example of interactive illustrations. It'd be good for any age group from kindergarten to second grade to practice reading and admire the illustrations. If you're curious, I'd definitely recommend it.