Tina Kelley is a former New York Times reporter and the author of two books of poetry, Preciseand The Gospel of Galore, and the co-author of the non-fiction book, Almost Home: Helping Kids Move From Homelessness to Hope.
Her favorite fairy tale is “The Frog Prince,” a tale of a princess and a frog who strike a bargain: if the frog retrieves the princess’s ball, she must bring him into her home and treat him like family. At six, it was Tina’s favorite fairy tale for quintessentially six year-old reasons. “My mom gave it to me because I was sick and home from school,” said Tina. “The princess’s dress was my favorite shade of aqua blue. The whole book was small and pretty and full of those 1960s drawings.”
As an adult, it is still her favorite. She says, “Looking back it is prescient. The importance of being true to your word resonates with my ethical standpoint as a journalist.” She particularly likes – then and now – the character of the princess’s father, a kind-hearted king who guides his daughter to do the right thing. The princess wants nothing to do with the frog once she has her ball back, but her father guides her to keep her word, and the story plays out to its happily ever after.
When Tina’s daughter was little, she often used fairy tales as a starting point to talk about making good decisions. She said, “It seemed like the princesses in fairy tales were constantly making unwise choices, so we could really talk about whether we would ever do what the princesses do.” Tina likes the fact that in “The Frog Prince,” it is the prince, rather than the princess, who makes an ill-advised life choice. In Tina’s version, the princess throws the frog against a wall when he bumps into her face while she’s lying down to sleep. He transforms into a handsome prince and asks her to marry him. Tina wonders aloud whether the prince should marry a princess who tries to get out of her promises and has thrown him into a wall.
The little book has stood the test of time in Tina’s life, while remaining true to its original intent. “Whenever I see the book on my shelf,” she said, “it makes me feel cheerful towards my mom.”
Help your child make good choices while building a bond between parent and child. Download an interactive fairy tale at www.saturnanimation.com.
