The salamander spell

by E. D. Baker

Paper Book, 2007

Status

Available

Call number

[Fic]

Publication

New York : Bloomsbury : Distributed to the trade by Holtzbrinck Publishers, 2007.

Description

Thirteen-year-old Grassina vies with her older sister, Chartreuse, to see who will inherit the family's talent for magic and become the Green Witch, while each ponders which prince will be at her side during her "happily ever after."

User reviews

LibraryThing member booksandbosox

Cute and interesting prequel to the Tales of the Frog Princess. In this story, we read about Grassina and Chartreuse (Emma's aunt and mother) as they come of age. We see first-hand the transformation of Olivene into the wicked witch she is when the Tales of the Frog Princess first begin and the

problems this causes for the kingdom. It was a nice change in perspective for the stories and I think Grassina was a good choice for the focus of the prequel. The one thing I was surprised to see was that Baker did not make Chartreuse more sympathetic in this prequel. She just isn't a likable character, ever. I also would have liked Baker to go a little bit further in her timeline instead of ending the story when she did. Regardless, still a very nice addition to the Frog Princess works.

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LibraryThing member mrsdwilliams

Tales of the Frog Princess, book 5.

Prequel to The Frog Princess. Fans of the series will enjoy the background provided here--how Olivene became a hag, the relationship between Grassina and Chartreuse, and the way that Haywood and Grassina met and fell in love.

There are no new plot developments

here. The book's purpose is simply to fill in the backstories of characters who appear in the series. Fans of the series will love it, but I would recommend starting with The Frog Princess and working into this one later, rather than starting with it.

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LibraryThing member Ilithyia

Prequel to The Frog Princess about when her Aunt Grassina was a girl and how she became the Green Witch and met Haywood.

LibraryThing member the1butterfly

I really got into this one- Grassina's backstory was very interesting. The only downside was knowing what's going to happen with her relationship with Haywood. It also gave a lot of perspective on Chartreuse.

LibraryThing member tterry6901

Grassina is expected to marry a prince, but her family encounters many troubles along the way. Her mother becomes cursed and turned into a hag and loses her Green Witch Title and is no longer able to protect her town. Grassina hears the werewolves are heading to town and it is up to Grassina to

help her family and save the town.

This is a good prequel to the Frog Princess stories and it gives the characters more depth than the Frog Princess tells us.

The students can discuss the things that Grassina can do to help the town and what she can do to help her mother. They can draw their conclusions to the next book or what they feel will heppen next.

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LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV

Great to learn the backstory of Grassina, Chartreuse, Olivine, Hayward, et al. I was a little frustrated that there's still a gap in the history of Greater Greensward, and Chartreuse's character is a bit underdeveloped, but the series still charms and I'm planning to read every entry as fast as my

library buys them. At the same time, I admit I'm going to want something meatier pretty soon. After all, I'm not 10 years old!

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LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey

Even fluffier than Emma's stories. Part of it is - this is Grassina and Chartreuse's story, and how Olivene was hit by the curse. And since, if you've read Emma's books, you already know not only this story (though not all the details) but how it eventually comes out - it's kind of...predetermined.

Some of the details are cute, like Grassina liking the swamp as much as Emma does (and for some of the same reasons), or how she and Haywood met (and why she's so sappy in love with him). Some are annoying - young Chartreuse is very much like the girl that got the original curse, in her treatment of her sister and her suitors. But mostly it's rather dull, and therefore a very quick read.

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LibraryThing member JalenV

The Salamander Spell is about Princess Emma's mother, Chartreuse, and her Aunt Grassina, when they were girls. Grassina meets her beloved, and Chartreuse meets Emma's father. We also learn how Emma's grandmother fell under the family curse and her grandfather became a ghost. I could feel sorry for

Chartreuse, whose dreams of coming into her magic were dashed, if she hadn't been so nasty to her younger sister.

Instead of a bat as our heroine's friend, we get a green snake named Pippa.

Grassina has to face monsters before and after her magic awakens. We who have already read Once Upon a Curse know why Grassina finding the Swamp Fairy might or might not have been a good thing.

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