This is a deliciously illustrated story of a frog who wishes he were a prince. When a witch pretends to turn him into a frog, Jerome proudly announces his new identity to the townspeople. However, they are skeptical, and ask him to prove his royalty by performing three daring and tricky deeds. Jerome succeeds through brains, not brawn, and since he does as a prince would do, the people decide he is a prince-just one who looks amphibian!

Jerome's solutions are clever (and, except in one case, fairy-tale plausible) and show imaginative ways to solve seemingly difficult problems. The pictures are wildly colored, and the prose is coherent and sometimes enchanting (as when the wizard remembers when he used to be a boy: "secret codes and watermelon and horse chestnuts; telling stories under the porch; old aunts who smelled like flowers..."). If only more of the story were written that wonderfully!

Still, the great pictures and magical story earn this a recommendation, especially for young children. (37 pages; though many pages contain big pictures only).

Of all the childhood books that I can recall, "Jerome" sticks out as my favorite. It is a simple but comic story about a frog who is tricked into thinking he is a prince, and thus performs 'princely deeds'. Perhaps I liked it because Jerome remained a frog but overcame all his challenges through changing the basic thought concepts of his 'foes'. For example, the destructive dragon realizes through Jerome he can burn garbage (on alternate Wednesdays I recall) rather than maidens, and still be content. Anyway, Jerome is a fun read, one I like to share with kids today. It is gorgeously illustrated, bold bright colours.