This book is a c hildren’s tale of approximately 18,000 words. A young frog “catches” a magic ring that puts his whole pond in danger. Frederick must leave home and family to save them and help a human boy escape from an evil magician. Along the way he learns that friends can be found in unexpected places and being small can be an advantage, especially when small folk band together for the good of all.
Piper and Peeper cowered. The rats' long, hairless tails swept crumbled bits of stone as they circled their prey. Frederick could see their teeth and the saliva dribbling down their hairy chins. But he couldn't seem to move or think.
"Leave them alone, you beasts!" Grace scurried up the back of one rat and fastened her little teeth on its ear.
The rat screeched and shook its head. Grace's small, furry body whipped about, but she hung on. The other rat stood on thick haunches and opened its jaws toward the tenacious patch of gray.
"Grace! No!" Frederick cried. "Oh, I've got to do something! I just--I just wish I were bigger!" Scrunching his eyes shut, he leaped.
When Frederick landed, the rats stared at him. Eyes rimmed with white, they backed a step. Then they turned tail and ran toward the bridge.
Somehow, they didn't seem quite so big up close. Frederick spun around. "Grace, where are you?" His eyes popped when he saw her. "What are you doing way down there?"
"We're not way down here," Grace said, huddling with a wide-eyed Piper and Peeper. "You're way up there."
Just then Piper and Peeper broke from Grace's side and rushed him. "How'd ya do it, Frederick, huh?" Piper said.
"Yeah, tell us how!" said Peeper as he danced about Frederick's fingerpads. They looked like tadpoles frolicking at his feet. His feet looked gigantic!
"I-I don't know." Incredible, he thought. Why, I'm as big as a--a fox! No wonder those rats ran away. But, as he wondered, a moment's dizziness made him close his eyes. When he opened them, everyone was on his level again. A sharp pang of regret surprised Frederick as he noticed his body had returned to normal size. Already? And I don't even know how I did it.