I just finished reading The Sister’s Grimm: The Fairy Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley. This is the first in a series of 8 books with book 9 on the way. For more information on this fabulous series check out this site The Sister's Grimm.
The Fairy Tale Detectives is considered to be a fractured fairy tale. First let’s define fairy tale. A Fairy tale is a story, an oral story, that has been passed down through the generations as well as through many different cultures. These stories are usually full of magic with characters such as Fairies, trolls, goblins, elves, giants or gnomes. The stories usually begin with “Once Upon a Time” and end with “Happily Ever After”. Some of the most famous fairy tale authors are the Brother’s Grimm, Charles Perrault, Hans Christian Andersen and Paul Galdone.
A fractured fairy tale is just another way of reinventing or rewriting a fairy tale with humor. There are many authors that enjoy writing fractured fairy tales. Check out this list of wonderful fractured fairy tales by many different authors at this site. Fractured Fairy Tales
The Sister’s Grimm: The Fairy Tale Detectives begins with two sisters, Daphne and Sabrina, who have been abandoned by their parents and are moved around within the foster care system. Suddenly they are sent to live with their grandmother, Relda Grimm, who they believe is dead. When they find themselves in Ferryport Landing with Grandma Grimm the girls are skeptical that she is their real grandmother. But in time they learn their true history of being related to the famous ancestors, the Brother’s Grimm. The girls learn about a collection of case files of magical mischief but then suddenly find themselves in the center of another crime and they need to solve it. And so the story begins of the The Sister’s Grimm and their exciting adventures with many characters that we all know and love, Snow White, the three little pigs, Jack and the Beanstalk, Prince Charming, and none other than the big bad wolf. This magical story is delightful in that it weaves so many wonderful fairy tale characters and plots within the story. As the girls begin to solve their first crime they learn about the mystery that leads to their ancestor’s magical beginnings with witches, pixies and fairies.
A delightful read and a definite must for lovers of fairy tales. This story is full of imagination, creativity and adventures but with a modern-day twist. I would recommend this set of books for children in grades 4-6. It might be helpful to even go back and reread some of the classic fairy tales before reading this story.
Some of my favorite fractured fairy tales include:
Sleeping Ugly by Jane Yolen
Jack and the Meanstalk by Brain and Rebecca Wildsmith
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
The Book that Jack Wrote by Jon Scieszka
The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka
The Frog Prince, continued by Jon Scieszka
Somebody and the Three Blairs by Marilyn Tolhurst
Rapunzel: A Groovy Fairy Tale by Lynn Roberts
Cinder Edna by Ellen Jackson
Cinder-Elly by Frances Minters
No comments:
Post a Comment