Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Ratings Explanation

Language: A couple of common swear words and two uses of the name of deity.

Violence: War violence, gun fire, bombing, poisonous gas.  Describes some suffering of the soldiers that were gassed while in the trenches.  Jack is seriously injured from the gas.  His skin is peeling and eyes are swollen shut.  One soldier’s pockets are stuffed with rocks and then he is shot and thrown into a pond.  Emma and Jack’s lives are both threatened if they do not cooperate with the enemy.  During their escape, both Jack and Emma are shot at.  Emma is wounded.

Sexual Content:  Jack asks for a kiss several times throughout the story.

Adult Themes:  The setting of the story is during WWI.  Bombing and gun shots are a common background to everything.  Emma’s mother is killed during a bombing.  Back home no one has heard from Emma or her dead mother and some assume the mother has run off with someone.  Emma is asked to be a spy and betray her country by giving information to the enemy.  A younger Jack was accused of pick pocketing.  Jack’s mother was a type of witch doctor who used chants, dreams and herbs to help heal others.

Synopsis:

Thinking they are safe from the war, a beautiful, young Emma and her mother travel from their native England to visit the family estate in Belgium.  Unfortunately the war front is closer than expected and Emma’s mother is killed during a bombing attack.  Emma is unable to get home to her father and must remain at the estate with an elderly couple who are the caretakers and her only companions.  One day a rare letter arrives.  It is from her boyfriend who writes to say he is breaking off their relationship because of rumors that her mother has run away with another man.  Infuriated, Emma tosses his picture, contained in an heirloom locket, down a nearby well.   After cooling off, she remembers that the locket also contained the only pictures she has of her parents.  Desperate, she climbs down the well to retrieve her necklace.  Before coming to the bottom, Emma is surprised to find that someone else is already there.  His eyes are large and swollen, his skin is peeling and he cannot talk without having a severe coughing fit.  She decides to help him out of the well and ask the caretakers to nurse him back to health.  Upon coming out of the well, Emma and her new patient are greeted by armed German soldiers then ordered to return to the estate.  The estate has been taken over by the German army who is using its impressive views to monitor the battle fields below.  Emma and the injured man, Jack, are locked in the master bedroom.  Only a caretaker is allowed in and out to bring in food and care for Jack.  As Jack recovers, he begs Emma to give him a kiss.  She is repulsed by his looks and forwardness and refuses him.  This odd ritual continues on a daily basis. Emma finally promises to be his true friend and Jack is satisfied.  Eventually, Emma is allowed to visit the local market accompanied by guards to get supplies and pick up any useful information for the German soldiers.  She is tempted to escape but remembers her promise to be Jack’s true friend.  As tensions build at the estate, Emma and Jack learn to get along and enjoy each others company.  The soldiers soon tire of their prisoners and plan to kill them.  Jack and Emma have gained useful information about the Germans and know they must escape as soon as possible.  They also have gained more than a friendship and discover that they truly love each other.  After many close calls they reach the safety of a neighboring town and continue to help the allied forces win the war and give peace to the war-torn land.

This book is part of a series called Once Upon a Time. Each book is a retelling of a different fairy tale.   I enjoyed this retelling of the not so common Frog Prince.  The WWI European setting was a unique time period for this story.  I thought that the  author’s develpment of Jack as the  Frog Prince was very clever and realistic.  I also appreciated that the author included the underlying moral of the classic tale.  You really can’t judge a book (or frog) by its cover.

©2009 The Literate Mother