Donna Jo Napoli

Donna Jo Napoli brings her background in linguistics to fiction for children and teenage readers. The Prince of the Pond reworks the frog-prince tradition from inside the pond, where an awkward newcomer struggles to behave like a frog after arriving beside a pile of human clothes. Puffin Books publishes the middle-grade animal fantasy, illustrated by Judy Schachner. Napoli uses playful speech, natural-history details, and a frog narrator to turn a familiar fairy tale into a story about adaptation, family, and belonging. The book begins a three-volume sequence followed by Jimmy the Pickpocket of the Palace and Gracie, the Pixie of the Puddle. Napoli's academic work and her wider writing career meet naturally here, especially in the comedy created by pronunciation, naming, and communication across different ways of life.