The Sisters Grimm

January 1, 2006
Gr 4-6 -Buckley has created a world in which humans and fairy-tale creatures live side-by-side in rural New York in an uneasy alliance. Brought here by Wilhelm Grimm in an attempt to save them, the Everafters are now kept in check by the man's descendants. Enter Sabrina and Daphne Grimm, two sisters seemingly abandoned by their parents, who have been brought to live with a grandmother whom they thought was dead. Heartbroken and wary, the girls are immediately swept up in a mystery that includes giants, pixies, fairies, and witches. Readers well grounded in their fairy tales will get the most pleasure from recognizing the characters -Prince Charming, Jack-the-Giant-Killer, the Three Pigs, the Magic Mirror, and more -but the fast pace, sly humor, and cleverly inserted vocabulary lessons will entertain even those who are meeting the characters for the first time. Softly rounded, black-and-white illustrations and old-fashioned silhouettes at the chapter headings complete the first-rate design of this madcap adventure." -Sharon Grover, Arlington County Department of Libraries, VA"

Copyright 2006 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2005
Gr. 4-6. After their parents disappear, sisters Daphne and Sabrina Grimm are placed with a grandmother they have never heard about. Sabrina, the eldest, is highly suspicious; why didn't their parents mention Granny Relda? She grows more concerned once they arrive at Relda's home in the New England town of Ferryport Landing, where Relda serves emerald-green meatballs in rooms lined with books about magic. Then Relda reveals the truth: the Grimms are descended from the famous storytelling brothers, and Ferryport Landing is a magical town, populated with "Everafters," characters straight from fairy tales. After Relda goes missing, it's up to the girls, and their new magical friends, to rescue her and stop a corrupt politician--a well-cast Prince Charming. Buckley's debut novel gets bogged down in labored world building and sometimes stilted prose, but the wild parade of magical folk in the gleefully fractured fairy tales (Snow White teaches school; the Three Little Pigs are policemen) may draw some fans. A second volume in the Sisters Grimm series, " The Unusual Suspects," is also available. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2006
Their ancestors wrote history books not fairy tales--as Sabrina and Daphne Grimm soon discover after arriving in Ferryport Landing, home to "Everafters" like Sheriff Hamstead, a now not-so-little pig. In fast-paced "Detectives", the sisters encounter Jack (of Beanstalk fame) who's intent on reliving his glory days as a giant killer. "Suspects" is equally engaging but ends abruptly with "To be continued...."

(Copyright 2006 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)