Tales from the Brothers Grimm and the Sisters Weird

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 show more 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! show less

Sorry to say, these altered fairy tales weren't up to Vande Velde's usual standards. They were a little hostile, a little bleak. The first one is the best, but it's lifted straight from The Rumpelstiltskin Problem" which is kinda ok because it's also hers, but I am glad I got this from the library instead of from a store!

Accidentally reread 4 years later. Bumping it up one star, to three. Still not satisfied, but my main complaint this time is that they're too superficial & short. And some are actually funny. The one based on Hansel and Gretel is not just bleak, but is quite creepy - good choice if you're looking for a little Halloween read with your kids.

I do still get excited every time I have a chance to read something new by the show more author, and I do especially recommend this book for the underserved girl reluctant-readers. (But of course also for boys, fans of fractured fairy tales of all ages, etc. :)" show less

An excellent book which is extremely humourous. Ignore the fact that this is a children's book and enjoy it as an adult! The only two stories I was not so keen on were 'Jack' as in Jack and the Beanstalk and 'Mattresses' as in The Princess and the Pea; although both of these were very well written and still funny.

If you liked the idea of what Roald Dahl did to nursery rhymes in 'Revolting Rhymes' you'll enjoy what Vivian Vande Velde has done to 13 fairy stories. Everything is turned upside down, for example Hansel and Gretal are very naughty children; little Red Riding Hood is simply awful Rumplestiltskin is lovely.

Great fun, a real treat.

This is a fun, and easy book to read, however some of the stories might be a little disturbing to some. I would recommend this book to middle school kids and older. The variations of the fairy tales are clever and enjoyable to read. I actually laughed out loud quite a few times.

These versions of familiar fairy tales are quite enjoyable. Well, the Hansel and Gretel one was disturbing, but most of them have endings I prefer to those of the original, particularly 'Jack and the Beanstalk,' which is funny. These are the story titles:

'Straw Into Gold'***
'Frog'****
'All Points Bulletin'***
'The Grandaughter'****
'Excuses'***
'Jack'****
'And Now a Word From Our Sponsor'***
'The Bridge'***
'Rated PG-13'*****
'Mattresses'****
'Twins'*****
'Evidence'****
'Beast and Beauty'****

The various stories retold, some in very abbreviated form (see 'Rated PG-13') : 'Beauty and the Beast,' 'Chicken Little,' 'Cinderella,' 'The Elves and the Shoemaker,' 'The Emperor's New Clothes,' 'The Frog Prince,' 'The Gingerbread Man,' 'Goldilocks and the show more Three Bears,' 'Hansel and Gretel,' 'Jack and the Beanstalk,' 'The Little Red Hen,' 'Little Red Riding Hood,' 'The Pied Piper of Hamlin,' 'The Pincess and the Pea,' 'Rapunzel,' 'Rumplestilskin,' 'Sleeping Beauty,' 'Snow White,' 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff,' and 'The Ugly Duckling'.

The cover is delightfully creepy. I like the wolf in granny guise on the cover of the book being read, the glowing eyes behind the three strange children under the bed, and the black widow spider in the window. The children under the bed are also seen in the frontispiece. The girl is not hiding her smile behind her hand there and that's no improvement. I suspect the smiley face nightlight was chosen by the reader's parents and the reader probably scorns it. I think the watch's time is 3:13. Happy late reading! show less

A fun twist on the classic Grimm's Fairy Tales. While the tales in this book stand on their own, you really need to read the original versions to appreciate the creative twist.

Its Cute. I suspect kids of the 9-11 year old range would love this book. But, for an adult, the twists weren't all that twisty, and some are a bit predictable - the Hansel and Gretel tale was actually quite scary.