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megan1230's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.0
darrellmccauley's review against another edition
3.0
Read with my son, who is not an avid reader. Book was "just okay," but if it gets my middle school boy to like reading, it gets another star.
saysyou's review against another edition
5.0
My boys (8, 10, and 11) LOVED this book and are excited to read the others in this series! I love that there was humor mixed in to make the grisly parts little more palatable. My boys were surprised at some of the detail, but they also thought it was fun and exciting. We got this from the library but I’ll probably purchase the series.
fuse8's review against another edition
5.0
Didn’t want to read this. Nope. Not a jot. Three reasons for that. First off, the title. I’ve said it about twenty times since reading it and every time I can’t quite get it right (derivations have included "Something Dark and Grimm", “A Grimm Tale”, and “Something Grimm”). Second, the jacket of the hardcover edition of this book isn’t particularly new. Silhouettes against a blue background. Ho hum. Third, I couldn’t believe that I was dealing with yet ANOTHER middle grade novel adapting fairy tales in new ways. After a while the [b:The Sisters Grimm|176327|The Fairy-Tale Detectives (The Sisters Grimm, #1)|Michael Buckley|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255660945s/176327.jpg|1142385] / [b:The Grimm Legacy|6760780|The Grimm Legacy|Polly Shulman|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1276186936s/6760780.jpg|6958044] titles out there begin to meld together. From [b:The Goose Girl|179064|The Goose Girl (The Books of Bayern, #1)|Shannon Hale|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255633605s/179064.jpg|2715267] to Into the Wild to [b:Sisters Red|6357708|Sisters Red (Sisters Red, #1)|Jackson Pearce|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255962639s/6357708.jpg|6544454] I sometimes feel as if I am a little tired of fairy tales. I guess it takes a book like A Tale Dark and Grimm to wake me out of this funk. To my surprise, Gidwitz’s debut is unlike anything I’ve ever encountered before. I’ve never seen a book meld the snarky narrator of something like a [a:Lemony Snicket|36746|Lemony Snicket|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1199734355p2/36746.jpg] title so seamlessly with the original tone and telling of the original Grimm fairy tales. And not the sweet tales either. This is a book that isn’t afraid to get to the root of a good story. The fact that it unearths some of the more frightening ones along the way just happens to be a bonus.
We all know some of the better known Grimm fairy tales out there like “Rapunzel” or “Cinderella”. Heck, we probably even know some of their original story elements (chopping of heels and toes, getting blinded by thorns, etc.). The Grimm tales were just that. Grim. Now imagine finding yourself living them. Prince Hansel and Princess Gretel are born in one lesser known Grimm fairy tales, “Faithful Johannes” and when they discover that their mom and dad are potentially unhinged they set off to make their way in the world and find some decent parents. In doing so they wander through a series of little known tales like “The Devil With the Three Golden Hairs” and “The Seven Ravens”. Unfortunately, while doing so they have a tendency to lose digits, lose their humanity, lose their lives (almost), and find that sometimes the fastest way to end your travels to go back to where you started.
There are times in a children’s librarian’s life when it is very useful to own the third edition of The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm as translated by Jack Zipes (who, by the way, blurbed this book). You just never know when you might need such a book. In this particular case I decided to inspect the stories Gidwitz appropriated to see exactly how closely they adhered to the originals. I was not disappointed. “Faithful Johannes”? Dead on, including the whole kidnapping the mom bit. "The Devil With the Three Golden Hairs"? At points, nearly word for word. He's often faithful, but sometimes I wondered if Gidwitz was calling upon versions of tales even older than the Grimm’s. The fact that the witch in the story “Hansel and Gretel” isn’t a witch at all but a baker feels like an earlier version of the story. I began to wish that Gidwitz would mention what his sources were when writing this tale. Because even if the baker idea was his own, it feels incredibly authentic.
Gidwitz, I should note, may seem to be adapting the Grimm tales in all their full gore, but he does make a couple alterations here and there. There are the obvious changes that have to be there for one tale to meld into another. The seven ravens are changed to the seven swallows since there are already three ravens of vast importance in this book, and any more would get confusing. And then there are the original elements that still aren’t quite appropriate for a middle grade novel. For example, in A Tale Dark and Grimm Johannes is instructed to bite the queen’s lip. In the original story, it’s her right breast. Ew. A good change then.
I was most intrigued when Gidwitz was at his most original. The story “Brother and Sister” seemingly has little to do with the original tale except that a boy and a girl are living on their own in a forest and the brother is turned into a wild beast. The story “A Smile As Red As Blood” seems closest to “The Robber Bridegroom”, complete with the telltale finger. It might be mixed with another story as well, though. The detail about killing warlocks by boiling them in oil with poisonous snakes felt a little too authentic. After reading for a while, you begin to find you cannot separate Gidwitz's writing from that of the Grimms. At the beginning of the book they are distinct and separate. The Grimms are almost word for word and Gidwitz just throws in a little snarky commentary. Then as the book progresses, more and more of Gidwitz seeps in so that by the end it’s impossible to say what is and isn’t authentic Grimm. Gidwitz’s technique will probably encourage kids to locate their own original Grimm tales. I recommend they lay their hands on [b:Grimm's Grimmest|826362|Grimm's Grimmest|Brothers Grimm|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178726395s/826362.jpg|812096] complete with beautifully bloody illustrations by Tracy Dockray (best known for re-illustrating the "Ramona" books).
As for the violence, you can’t say Gidwitz doesn’t warn you. Indeed, before every gross, disgusting, or horrific passage (all authentically Grimm) he is careful to tell the reader things like, “Warning: this next bit is kind of gross” and “No little children around, right?” These stories have been around since long before the Grimms collected them during the early 19th century. Kids loved 'em in the past and from what I hear, kids today just eat this newest book up as well. The gore doesn’t get to them. It’s the parents who can’t take it. For a certain kind of child, this book will be the answer to their painless, bloodless, suburban lives. They’ll get sucked into this book early on and keep reading and reading until before they know it they’ve just finished a story with great writing and a bold theme. And when you talk it up to them you need only say one thing: “This book makes [b:Goosebumps|125662|Say Cheese and Die! (Goosebumps, #4)|R.L. Stine|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171904753s/125662.jpg|121027] and [b:Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark|1325218|Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark|Alvin Schwartz|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1184276170s/1325218.jpg|145600] look like pat-a-cake nursery rhymes.”
One does wonder if the narrator in this book isn’t a bit on the nose too often, though. The idea is to show not tell, but Gidwitz indulges in a fair amount of telling. His narrator is prone to saying things like, “Parents are supposed to help their children to grow wise and healthy and strong,” and “… Once Upon a Time, no grown-up was perfect. You, my dear reader, have certainly learned that by now.” He’s more than intrusive. He’s telling you the point of some of these tales, and adding observations of his own along the way. Some folks will be driven batty by this technique. Yet for me, the technique was so obvious from the start that I accepted it. I didn’t mind being told what one thing might mean or another. When you’re dealing with tales as upfront and brassy as the Grimm tales, a little contemporary commentary is more than welcome. This is a book for kids, after all.
Like a lot of middle grade novels out this year (Cosmic, [b:One Crazy Summer|6609764|One Crazy Summer|Rita Williams-Garcia|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1276451499s/6609764.jpg|6803731], etc.), A Tale Dark and Grimm is about parents and parenting. Says the narrator at one point, “It will happen to you, Dear Reader, at some point in your life. You will face a moment very much like the one Hansel and Gretel are facing right now. In this moment, you will look at your parents and realize that – no matter what it sounds like they are saying – they are actually asking you for forgiveness.” What is forgiveness, for that matter? How do you forgive people when they’ve done terrible things to you? Is there a point where you can let go, and is there harm in holding on to your anger? And how on earth do you take seven or more incredibly violent Grimm fairy tales and turn them into a meaningful story about finding home, finding yourself, and finding what it means to be forgiving? That Gidwitz attempted it in the first place is bizarre. That he succeeds is baffling. The good kind of baffling. With enough blood and guts to satisfy even the most craven of readers, this is the rare horror tale for kids that also happens to have a lot of literary merit as well. The combination crops up in young adult literature all the time, but not so much on the kid side of things. Such books are rarities. This book, a gem. A new idea for some very old literature.
For ages 9-12.
We all know some of the better known Grimm fairy tales out there like “Rapunzel” or “Cinderella”. Heck, we probably even know some of their original story elements (chopping of heels and toes, getting blinded by thorns, etc.). The Grimm tales were just that. Grim. Now imagine finding yourself living them. Prince Hansel and Princess Gretel are born in one lesser known Grimm fairy tales, “Faithful Johannes” and when they discover that their mom and dad are potentially unhinged they set off to make their way in the world and find some decent parents. In doing so they wander through a series of little known tales like “The Devil With the Three Golden Hairs” and “The Seven Ravens”. Unfortunately, while doing so they have a tendency to lose digits, lose their humanity, lose their lives (almost), and find that sometimes the fastest way to end your travels to go back to where you started.
There are times in a children’s librarian’s life when it is very useful to own the third edition of The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm as translated by Jack Zipes (who, by the way, blurbed this book). You just never know when you might need such a book. In this particular case I decided to inspect the stories Gidwitz appropriated to see exactly how closely they adhered to the originals. I was not disappointed. “Faithful Johannes”? Dead on, including the whole kidnapping the mom bit. "The Devil With the Three Golden Hairs"? At points, nearly word for word. He's often faithful, but sometimes I wondered if Gidwitz was calling upon versions of tales even older than the Grimm’s. The fact that the witch in the story “Hansel and Gretel” isn’t a witch at all but a baker feels like an earlier version of the story. I began to wish that Gidwitz would mention what his sources were when writing this tale. Because even if the baker idea was his own, it feels incredibly authentic.
Gidwitz, I should note, may seem to be adapting the Grimm tales in all their full gore, but he does make a couple alterations here and there. There are the obvious changes that have to be there for one tale to meld into another. The seven ravens are changed to the seven swallows since there are already three ravens of vast importance in this book, and any more would get confusing. And then there are the original elements that still aren’t quite appropriate for a middle grade novel. For example, in A Tale Dark and Grimm Johannes is instructed to bite the queen’s lip. In the original story, it’s her right breast. Ew. A good change then.
I was most intrigued when Gidwitz was at his most original. The story “Brother and Sister” seemingly has little to do with the original tale except that a boy and a girl are living on their own in a forest and the brother is turned into a wild beast. The story “A Smile As Red As Blood” seems closest to “The Robber Bridegroom”, complete with the telltale finger. It might be mixed with another story as well, though. The detail about killing warlocks by boiling them in oil with poisonous snakes felt a little too authentic. After reading for a while, you begin to find you cannot separate Gidwitz's writing from that of the Grimms. At the beginning of the book they are distinct and separate. The Grimms are almost word for word and Gidwitz just throws in a little snarky commentary. Then as the book progresses, more and more of Gidwitz seeps in so that by the end it’s impossible to say what is and isn’t authentic Grimm. Gidwitz’s technique will probably encourage kids to locate their own original Grimm tales. I recommend they lay their hands on [b:Grimm's Grimmest|826362|Grimm's Grimmest|Brothers Grimm|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178726395s/826362.jpg|812096] complete with beautifully bloody illustrations by Tracy Dockray (best known for re-illustrating the "Ramona" books).
As for the violence, you can’t say Gidwitz doesn’t warn you. Indeed, before every gross, disgusting, or horrific passage (all authentically Grimm) he is careful to tell the reader things like, “Warning: this next bit is kind of gross” and “No little children around, right?” These stories have been around since long before the Grimms collected them during the early 19th century. Kids loved 'em in the past and from what I hear, kids today just eat this newest book up as well. The gore doesn’t get to them. It’s the parents who can’t take it. For a certain kind of child, this book will be the answer to their painless, bloodless, suburban lives. They’ll get sucked into this book early on and keep reading and reading until before they know it they’ve just finished a story with great writing and a bold theme. And when you talk it up to them you need only say one thing: “This book makes [b:Goosebumps|125662|Say Cheese and Die! (Goosebumps, #4)|R.L. Stine|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171904753s/125662.jpg|121027] and [b:Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark|1325218|Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark|Alvin Schwartz|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1184276170s/1325218.jpg|145600] look like pat-a-cake nursery rhymes.”
One does wonder if the narrator in this book isn’t a bit on the nose too often, though. The idea is to show not tell, but Gidwitz indulges in a fair amount of telling. His narrator is prone to saying things like, “Parents are supposed to help their children to grow wise and healthy and strong,” and “… Once Upon a Time, no grown-up was perfect. You, my dear reader, have certainly learned that by now.” He’s more than intrusive. He’s telling you the point of some of these tales, and adding observations of his own along the way. Some folks will be driven batty by this technique. Yet for me, the technique was so obvious from the start that I accepted it. I didn’t mind being told what one thing might mean or another. When you’re dealing with tales as upfront and brassy as the Grimm tales, a little contemporary commentary is more than welcome. This is a book for kids, after all.
Like a lot of middle grade novels out this year (Cosmic, [b:One Crazy Summer|6609764|One Crazy Summer|Rita Williams-Garcia|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1276451499s/6609764.jpg|6803731], etc.), A Tale Dark and Grimm is about parents and parenting. Says the narrator at one point, “It will happen to you, Dear Reader, at some point in your life. You will face a moment very much like the one Hansel and Gretel are facing right now. In this moment, you will look at your parents and realize that – no matter what it sounds like they are saying – they are actually asking you for forgiveness.” What is forgiveness, for that matter? How do you forgive people when they’ve done terrible things to you? Is there a point where you can let go, and is there harm in holding on to your anger? And how on earth do you take seven or more incredibly violent Grimm fairy tales and turn them into a meaningful story about finding home, finding yourself, and finding what it means to be forgiving? That Gidwitz attempted it in the first place is bizarre. That he succeeds is baffling. The good kind of baffling. With enough blood and guts to satisfy even the most craven of readers, this is the rare horror tale for kids that also happens to have a lot of literary merit as well. The combination crops up in young adult literature all the time, but not so much on the kid side of things. Such books are rarities. This book, a gem. A new idea for some very old literature.
For ages 9-12.
carolynj_reads's review against another edition
5.0
Reread this book so I could write questions for our Battle of the Books. I love the second person narrative in this trilogy. I think students as well are drawn to his writing style. There’s a lot of lesser known Grimm tales here, and he uses the outlines of the stories to weave a creative new tale.
traceyt__'s review against another edition
3.0
3.5 STARS*
I had high hopes for this middle grade fairytale re-telling, but I guess maybe those high hopes were my downfall. The concept around it is interesting - Hansel & Gretel running away from their own fairytale into 8 other - but they weren't actually fairytales I were familiar with. I actually think Gidwitz just made them up. Still, I did find it interesting that their were moments where I could connect it with other readings I've done, surprisingly even the Bible (although no religious lessons are taught in this).
It was an okay read, a little gruesome for a middle grade novel. The narrator also got quite annoying. It was enjoyable, don't get me wrong, but I felt nothing after finishing it. Definitely forgettable
I had high hopes for this middle grade fairytale re-telling, but I guess maybe those high hopes were my downfall. The concept around it is interesting - Hansel & Gretel running away from their own fairytale into 8 other - but they weren't actually fairytales I were familiar with. I actually think Gidwitz just made them up. Still, I did find it interesting that their were moments where I could connect it with other readings I've done, surprisingly even the Bible (although no religious lessons are taught in this).
It was an okay read, a little gruesome for a middle grade novel. The narrator also got quite annoying. It was enjoyable, don't get me wrong, but I felt nothing after finishing it. Definitely forgettable
sarahsulliv's review against another edition
5.0
There are so many fairy tale retellings out there, that it is absolutely thrilling when you find one as totally original as this one is. I had a feeling, from the Jack Zipes blurb on the back (and the multitude of great reviews) that it would be, of course. I loved the way Adam Gidwitz drew SO much from the original fairy tales (this is a man who has done his research) and found a way to make those tales fit so beautifully together into this new story. I liked the way he plays with storytelling and form throughout the book. But mostly I loved the way this is a story that values children and what they are capable of. Amazing.
melissariggs's review against another edition
4.0
This book was the latest read-aloud for my 5th grade class. Let me say that while my most of my class (especially the boys) LOVED this book, I definitely did some "on the fly" editing. I worried constantly about parent complaints-although I did not have any :). Definitely preview before you recommend or use as a read-aloud for students.
"In this mischievous and utterly original debut, Hansel and Gretel walk out of their own story and into eight other classic Grimm-inspired tales. As readers follow the siblings through a forest brimming with menacing foes, they learn the true story behind (and beyond) the bread crumbs, edible houses, and outwitted witches.
Fairy tales have never been more irreverent or subversive as Hansel and Gretel learn to take charge of their destinies and become the clever architects of their own happily ever after."
"In this mischievous and utterly original debut, Hansel and Gretel walk out of their own story and into eight other classic Grimm-inspired tales. As readers follow the siblings through a forest brimming with menacing foes, they learn the true story behind (and beyond) the bread crumbs, edible houses, and outwitted witches.
Fairy tales have never been more irreverent or subversive as Hansel and Gretel learn to take charge of their destinies and become the clever architects of their own happily ever after."
irishmbk's review against another edition
4.0
Wonderful, imaginative and fun! I loved the original Grimm tales and this book reimagines several of the wonderful bloody stories in all their gory details. I also loved how it felt as if the narrator was speaking directly with you in between stories. Fantastic truly!!