Customer Reviews

Tales from the Brothers Grimm and the Sisters Weird

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Vivian Vande Velde neatly skewers some traditional fairy tales in this collection of stories; most are moderately good-- entertaining, but not terribly deep. This anthology would have joined the ranks of the mediocre if not for one absolutely clever and wonderful retelling of Rumpelstiltskin called "Straw into Gold." This one story makes the whole book worth getting. The others are good, but "Straw into Gold" outshines them by far.

There are many fairy tale retellings; those of Robin McKinley (Beauty, Rose Daughter), Donna Jo Napoli (Spinners, Zel, The Magic Circle) Mercedes Lackey (The Fire Rose, The Firebird) and Patricia Wrede (Snow White and Rose Red) are particularly worth checking out.

How do you fracture a fairy tale? The dust cover of my edition of the book says there are four different ways: make the villain a hero, make the hero a villain, tell what really happened, or all of the above. A fifth way might be added: let the tale ferment in the mind of Vivian Vande Velde for a while until you get a heady wine of gruesomeness, fun, and hilarity. The best of the best in this group of short stories would have to be "Staw into Gold," a new twist on the Rumpelstiltskin tale that has a perfect ending for children of seperated, divorced, or remarried parents and "Frog" a re-telling of the classic Frog Prince with a lesson about keeping promises.

Not much to say about this book. It's a light, sweet read that made me laugh out loud more than once. Some of the twisted fairy tales are very disturbing, however. Others almost made me cry. I actually fell in love with Rumplestilskin. He's amazing.

Anyway. Cute read. And most of the tales are great for little kids. I thought the "Rated PG-13" on the back was a joke, but after reading it I see that it's not, not really. It's not inappropriate at all for anyone over 13 I think. Just a little creepy.

This book is full of variations of many famous fairy tales. I was particually interested in the varition of Rumpelstiltskin. Velde also wrote a book called the Rumpelstiltskin problem which includes one of these stories which creativly shows the different twists of the story! Very interesting.

A collection of fairy tales retold with humor. Clever, but sparse and predictable (as fairy tales usually are). I read this to see if it would be appropriate for a seven year old to read. In that regard, I don't see anything wrong with recommending the book to that age, but I wonder if some of the jokes might not resonate with someone so young. As an adult book, it should be read as Grimm stories are read--with the understanding that they are written for children but can still be of light interest to adults.

This is a delightful book of traditional fairy tales with characters that no longer seem quite so heroic. In these tales, it shows us how we would act if we had magic in our world and were threatened with beheading. Realistic fiction that will make you laugh or think, as the author commands

I really enjoyed this book. The stories were unexpected and yet still were respectful of fairytales. The atmosphere was just fun. I liked the in between stories a lot. They are on just one page and just tell a little tale. The stories are well written and make me think and sometimes grin.

I do believe that I may wind up with a shelf full of Vivian Vande Velde books! This is our second from this author and we are positively smitten! I love this just as much as the Girl does! They are clever, sly, and just the right amount of twisted to honor the originals but provide the reader with something entirely different in the end (and just as satisfying)! As one reviewer noted, Vande Velde really does challenge our notion of how the character's are, turning good into bad and ugly into beautiful and more, you get little snippets (like ads and commercials built in, so that nearly every classic children's tale is addressed here in come fashion...and each with the Vande Velde twist). The best stories in the bunch are the Rumplestiltskin retelling (the best in the book) and the Jack and the Bean Stalk one! I enjoyed the truly hideous (and clearly sociopath) Hansel and Gretel retelling...nicely done!! I'll be adding this to my growing collection! I give it a B+, it's good, twisted reading...but some of the stories felt more like first drafts than full fledged retellings, but still well worth the read despite this! Kids 8-12 will LOVE this book!

This was a wonderful book! I especially liked STRAW INTO GOLD. It was really good with a bit of a surprise ending. It had just enough magic, not too much like other fairy tales.

This book was so hilarious! Really giving a look at both sides of tale. I was laughing so hard throughout the book that I had to take a breather for 5 min. I let my Mom read this also and she found it Very funny. This would almost be my all time favorite book though I am older than the recomended age. Good for any age group, read this book.