The Frog Princess by E.D. Baker

I got a kick out of this frog story. (Sorry. I couldn’t help it.) It’s figuratively true.

Princess Emeralda visits the swamp by the castle while avoiding an unsuitable suitor and kisses a frog. Something goes wrong with the spell, and she ends up a frog as well. Prince Eadric,aka Prince Eadric the frog, and she are off on an adventure. Besides learning how to be a frog, Emma and Eadric have to evade predators, trust ssssuspicious snakes, and make their way back to Emma’s castle where her witch, literally, of an aunt can help them.

It’s a fun adventure from a fresh perspective.

Generally, witches in fairy tales don’t pose a problem to me. Emma’s aunt is a good witch more analogous to Glenda in Oz than a proselytizing case for Wiccans. Spells take the form of rhymes that are somewhat silly in nature.

However, I like my witches to stay in their designated roles, and I get a bit cautious when magic’s portrayed as a skill anyone can be born with an aptitude for. Emma apparently has a “flair” for. It might be more a problem that we live in a time where genuine witchcraft and magic is being sold to our kids rather than this particular book. I’ve certainly seen proselytizing for Wicca in more and more books, so I give you this to consider.

Having said that, two of my favorite scenes were the description of Glassina’s room: with the detailed tapestry of a town which you don’t want to touch since the lion in it took a nip of Emma’s finger. And the witches in retirement get to choose some interesting cottages: like the one with chicken feet that can walk.

What bothered me most about the book wasn’t even the book. Ours was a new copy that came with advertising in the back that I didn’t like much: “Calling all Goddesses.” (uhhh, thanks, but we’re having enough trouble becoming saints.)…

SAFETY RATING: 2 Flags (well-catechized tweens should be fine)

See: Catechism of the Catholic Church: 2117

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Flip-Flop Girl by Katherine Paterson

Katherine Paterson is a celebrated author for good reason. She creates her characters with a skill mastered by only the best authors.

One caution I have about her books is the serious nature of topics she tackles: death and loss of a parent.

This book, for example, has a protagonist, Vinnie, whose father dies of stomach cancer. Her brother, Mason, has stopped talking because he is traumatized by the comment he made that he was glad his father was dead because his father smelled. Being so little, he didn’t understand until the funeral that his father really was dead, and he clammed up at that point.

This leads to a great deal of attention being focused on Mason with little left over for Vinnie. To complete her trauma, she has to move to a new school because they have to leave their home and move in with their Grandma so Vinnie’s mother can make ends meet.

At her new school, she has no friends but plays at recess with a girl named Lupe whose story of woe surpasses Vinnie’s. Lupe has a father in jail accused of killing Lupe’s mother, but Lupe advocates convincingly for her father’s innocence.

See what I mean about topics? But know that distilling this story down doesn’t do justice to the poignant way Katherine Paterson tells it and to the vivid characters that populate it. The safety warning for this story is for the depth of content.

If you’re willing to delve into these topics with younger tweens, be aware that while she won’t be a Christian guide , she is a storyteller of high caliber. Her characters have resilient strength and their perspective resonates with tweens.

SAFETY RATING: 2 Vatican Flags

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Missing May by Cynthia Rylant

Cynthia Rylant is a fine writer, and I’m looking forward to reviewing other books of hers. But in spite of its Newbery Medal, I wouldn’t grab this book for a mid-younger tween without serious trepidation.

The beauty of the story lies in the masterful way C. Rylant portrays the characters and their grief and coping. Summer is a young girl (12) livimg with Ob and May, after her mother dies. She had passed through the homes of several relatives first. None of them truly loved or wanted her, but May and Ob did.

May is a lovely woman, and Ob and Summer love her dearly. When she dies, Ob can hardly bear the hurt, and Summer can hardly grieve because she’s worried about Ob.

Despite Ob’s mild cursing (cra_; hel_), there is plenty of wit and charm in this gentle character-study. When Ob is sure that May speaks to him, it is understandable and not creepy. Then, Ob finds a friend named Cletus,who happened to have had a near-death drowning experience. Ob has him stand in May’s garden because he might be some kind of conduit between both worlds (having been briefly to “the other side). It’s a heart-tugging , slightly humorous scene, though at this point, it is clear that these sorrowful souls have no faith of any sort to help them heal. They are simply certain May is in heaven and is happy.

It’s chapter 7 that loses me. Cletus brings Ob and Summer an advertisement for a spiritist church. At this point, Summer quips, “Surely he knew he’d never get Ob and me inside of a church, even if it served a thousand different kind of doughnuts.” There’s no indication in the book as to why these two might have such an over-the-top reaction, but they decide the Spiritist church with the medium-turned-séance leader may offer something. They intend to get the “Reverend” to help them contact the spiritual world and get in touch with May.

We are not subjected to any séances or attempts to contact the dead in the book. The Reverend died right before they arrive. Her nephew is willing to put them in touch with more psychics, but Ob says he isn’t “meant to do it.”

Such is the world we live in that recourse to psychics and spiritism is just another option.

I would like to agree.

Except that demons are real, and dabbling in any occult form is one way to potentially open yourself to demonic oppression, even possession (which is rare but on the rise).

Of course, such a point falls on the modern ear as anything from quaint to superstitious to ludicrous.

Padre Pio had the best response this modern-day skepticism: “You’ll believe in Hell when you get there.”

Safety Rating: 1/2 Flag

See Catechism of the Catholic Church:
Spiritism Forbidden: 2117
Conjuring the Dead: 2116

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The Doll People by Ann M. Martin

My younger, reluctant reader took over this book after I'd only read half of it aloud and read it for herself. This is a sign for parents of reluctant girl readers. I think that with the artistic pictures scattered throughout the book, she made a good call. It is a book to be both read and examined (like the Ottoline series: a girl-friendly, visually-saturated book).

Anyway, while I didn't find it a riveting read; she did. Meet Annabelle Doll and her family. They live in a dollhouse in a girl's bedroom where they come alive and move, but are careful about not being caught since that could potentially put them in "Permanent Doll State." That is where they freeze and never come back to alert state. Annabelle, a rather active doll, has experienced temporary doll state.

Still, experience of temporary doll state does not stop her from trying to solve the mystery of Aunt Sarah's disappearance. Aunt Sarah Doll has been gone for awhile, but the discovery of her journal by Annabelle starts a quest for her to find her. The arrival of the Funcraft family of dolls helps her in this endeavor.

You can imagine how it all ends; the important thing being that your child may want to read to find out....

Safety Rating: 3 Flags

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