The Frog King
Author: The Brother Grimm
Copyright: 1812
Pages: 2-8 pages each tale
Reading Level: 4
Genre: Fairy Tales
Rating: **
Other stories read: Rapunzel, The Goose-girl, Hansel and Gretel

Summary:
There once was a King, and all his daughters were beautiful. But the youngest daughter’s beauty was so grand that even the sun marveled to shine upon her. Now each day the princess would go to the well in the dark forest and throw her golden ball in the air and catch it. But one day, she did not catch the ball and it fell into the deep well and she knew she could not retrieve it so she began to sob. As she was crying, she heard a voice that asked why she was crying. Looking up to see whom was there, she saw an ugly frog sitting in the water. When she told the frog her situation it said that it would go dive down to the bottom of the well and retrieved her golden ball if she would take him home and make him her playmate, feed him at her table, and let him sleep in her bed. The princess quickly agreed. The frog then quickly dove to the bottom of the well and retrieved the golden ball. Upon seeing it she exclaimed with joy, grabbed her ball, and ran home leaving the frog behind. The next night at dinner though, there was a knock on the door and there was the frog. The frog told her the rhyme for her to open up the door, but she slammed it on his face. Only after her father inquired why she had done so and who was at the door did the princess tell him her situation. Her father then told her she must keep her promise. After much complaint the princess let the frog eat with her and finally brought him to bed, but instead of bringing him to bed she leaves him in the corner. When he requests to come to bed she throws him against the wall and he turns into a handsome prince, the spell now broken. Then the next morning the prince takes the princess back to his kingdom after his faithful servant Heinrich picked them up in the carriage, his heart to swelling now that his master was back and the spell was broken.

Who would benefit from reading this?
This is a story for children to hear. It has a moral to every story, and can teach things important life lessons like “don’t judge a book by its cover” and so on.

Potential problems/conflicts:
The main problem I see is that the Grimm fairy tales can be on the gruesome/violent side at times. They aren’t any more descriptive than most cartoons, but they may be too graphic for some parents preference.

My reaction:
These tales could shock me at times by the descriptive deaths but they were very similar to the fairy tales I grew up on. I had never heard of the goose girl, but the others were much similar to the classic fairy tales I heard as a kid. I would not hesitate to share these with my children, but I might hold off until they are in the elementary years.