Frogged

Product Information

In the Summer of 1995, ten-year-old Joan, with her mother Miriam and younger sister Mya, escapes her father's ferocious temper, to the safety of her mother’s ancestral home in Memphis. A princess should be as good as she is beautiful.So says The Art of Being a Princess, which Princess Imogene is supposed to be reading. But since she is neither particularly good nor all that beautiful, she skips her homework to visit the pond. There she meets a talking frog who claims to be a prince under a witch’s spell. Imogene kindly kisses him to remove the spell – and gets turned into a frog instead!Now the only way for the princess to un-frog herself is to convince someone else to kiss her. But before she can figure out a plan, Imogene gets kidnapped and becomes the unwilling star attraction in a third-rate traveling theater company. Can she find a way to undo the witch’s spell – or will she be frogged forever? Frogged by Vivian Vande Velde – eBook Details This was a difficult story to read. So much death, racism, tragedy and loneliness. Yet what I was left with was the power of sisterhood, of self-love, of believing in God-given talents, of understanding and the of amazing healing powers of community. I loved the depictions of a city and a culture I am an outsider to, but can appreciate and celebrate with the author. I felt like I was there with these sisters as they endured hardship after hardship and persevered with grit and determination.

Historic Buildings Dating Historic Buildings

I loved Hazel for finding a love like no other, loved Miriam for finding the strength to leave an abusive situation and redefine herself, loved August for making the choice to be there for a son she could never control rather than follow her own dreams, loved June for ignoring the noise that tried to make her stop drawing and loved Maya for never letting outside voices temper her love for her father and her family. I loved Miss Dawn for investing in Miriam’s daughters as if they were her own and loved the community that surrounded the North girls.There's SO MUCH more I could say about this book's failings, big and small but I will just end it with these small annoyances—

Frogged by Vivian Vande Velde - Publishers Weekly

As you can tell from the line quoted above, this book is filled with gorgeous, poetic observations that will make you stop and dwell on the words you just consumed. There were so many lines I highlighted in this book. The story captivates from beginning to end and the characters pull you in and invite you into their lives. This was a powerful read and is one to be treasured. Highly recommend. By concentrating, she could make out what the frogs were saying, and that was when she realized their language only had a few words. Imogene didn't like to judge, but she felt that the frogs didn't have much to say."

The author is a poet and her writing is lovely and worthy of 5 stars. This is a debut book and the story is quite good. Most of the story was a full 4 stars for me but it did dwindle in certain parts to a 3.5. It was hilarious and added a whole other layer of fun to the story. But the entire book plot was a riot. I vacillated between 3 and 4 stars for several days since finishing the book. The writing is worthy of 5 stars, but there were aspects of the story which I loved and certain themes that I did not, including the ending. However, it did inspire a terrific discussion with my reading buddy, Marialyce.

FROGGED - Definition and synonyms of frogged in the English FROGGED - Definition and synonyms of frogged in the English

This novel will make you feel and will make you think. I recommend it for all readers of literary fiction and family drama. I look forward to seeing what’s next for this debut novelist. As she grows up, Joan finds relief in her artwork, painting portraits of the community in Memphis. One of her subjects is their enigmatic neighbor Miss Dawn, who claims to know something about curses, and whose stories about the past help Joan see how her passion, imagination, and relentless hope are, in fact, the continuation of a long matrilineal tradition. Joan begins to understand that her mother, her mother’s mother, and the mothers before them persevered, made impossible choices, and put their dreams on hold so that her life would not have to be defined by loss and anger—that the sole instrument she needs for healing is her paintbrush.Princess Imogene wonders whether she is as good as she should be when she reads that a princess ought to be as good as she is beautiful in The Art of Being a Princess, a gift—a hint?—from her mother. She is, and more. There is always a quest and a hero who must complete the quest no matter the dangers or the impossibility of the tasks set before him/her. (Chance, P. 84) My one complaint is the climax. It felt a little…anticlimactic. And the ending for a certain character was extremely unsatisfactory and didn’t seem in character at all. The novel is told in third person by Hazel (Myron’s wife), Miriam and August her two daughters and in first person by Joan (Miriam’s oldest daughter). Joan’s sister Mya is the only female member of the tight family group not to have her own chapters, while the other key characters are Miriam’s husband Jaxson (who serves in the Marines including in the Gulf) and Derek August’s son. What a GENIUS hot take coming from a woman whose son is going to prison for killing WOMEN & this is the reason why HE should not be put on Death Row?)