Fairy Tale Feature: A Tale Dark and Grimm

Sometimes Beatrix Cottonpants forgets that not everyone realizes the Truth about fairy tales.

The Truth, of course, is that fairy tales are dark and scary and bloody and horrible. They're stories about the fears people hold deep inside about growing up or going away or dying or being alone. And about the heroes, often children, who survive them because they're lucky or pretty, or sometimes because they're resourceful or kind.

Lucky, there's Adam Gidwitz to remind us about all this.

In A Tale Dark and Grimm, Gidwitz proposes that the story we all know about Hansel and Gretel begins further back than the overheard conversation and ends quite a bit later than that whole nasty witch in the oven business . Each story features Hansel, Gretel, or their parents as main characters in other tales, often the goriest, bloodiest, or otherwise darkest of the Brothers Grimm's stories. Some highlights? Hansel and Gretel's parents are aided initially by Faithful Johannes; Hansel seeks to procure the Three Golden Hairs of the Devil; Gretel tangles with the Robber Bridegroom. Of course, there is that encounter with the witch, and then a bonus adventure all their own comes after all that.

Throughout, Gidwitz's narrator interjects Snicket-style comments, often warnings of the scariness to come Snicket-stlye, or musings about the whys and hows of fairy tales and stories in general. These comments are bolded, so readers may choose to skip them, but they do add another level of interest to the story.

For the curious, A Tale Dark and Grimm is bloody. It is scary, and dark and disturbing. But so are fairy tales, and you know what? Kids love them that way. Hansel and Gretel are remarkably strong and mature characters, but it's something they learn through their struggles, and a little bit of that learning gets through to readers, too, as well as the sheer delight of seeing someone's head chopped off.

Buy it or borrow it, but read it, and then read it again or read it to someone else. It is just that good. 

Want more?
Check out Adam Gidwitz's website
Read this really insightful interview on Fuse 8 or Betsy Bird's original review
Read Beatrix Cottonpants' take on Hansel and Gretel, or find out Which Witch you might be with this quiz.