The Grimm Blog

Adam Gidwitz tells eerie and hilarious tales of mixed up kingdoms with equally mixed up people. He stirs together, like a witch stirs her brew, old stories and characters from The Brothers Grimm with new spine-chilling creations that make one's neck bleed of fright, and stomach churn from fear of gore. His first book, A Tale Dark and Grimm, is a version Hansel and Gretel in which their they set out on adventures after their heads get cut off and they run away from home. In a Glass Grimly, the second book in Gidwitz's trilogy, Jack and Jill need to find a looking glass in order to save their lives, after they too run away from home. The final book, The Grimm Conclusion is about a set of lesser known Grimm characters, the twins Joringel (Your-ingel) and Joringa (Your- ing a), who are sadly separated in the beginning of the tale and brought together again by surviving many scary dark adventures and through a deep loving care for each other. Through out this harrowing trilogy, these main characters make friends bizarre and frightening monsters of bed wetting caliber. Despite their horrifying looks, they turn out to be helpful and fight viciously for the protagonists of each book. Don't judge a book/person by his/her/its cover/appearance.

In  A Tale Dark and Grimm, lonesome and wandering,  Hansel and Gretel meet many a monster and creature. The Moon, Sun, and Stars in this story are creatures of day and night, and light and dark. The Stars seem elusive, not very bright (smart), small sneaky little critters and not trustworthy at first. However, the Stars prove themselves humble and modest, as well as extremely wise, and helped Gretel retrieve, save, and return seven swallows to their original human form, reuniting them with their wizard father. Goblins, mermaids (evil I tell you, evil), and some obscure fire breathing, burping Salamander that likes to ask a lot questions roam about in In a Glass Grimly. The beast that most stands out is Eidechse Von Feuer Der Menschenfleischfressende, the fire breathing, burping salamander, he prefers to be called Eddie. Foul smelling with a putrid appearance, see through skin, jet black bones and visible organs. Luckily, Jack and Jill were brave and didn't see Eddie for his appearance, they gave him a chance to talk and learned he was actually quite nice and extremely helpful. He burned downed the city that held Jack and Jill hostage with one overtly large flaming belch! Freeing Jack and Jill from the sneaky goblins. Free with their prize, Jack and Jill returned home. Malchizadek (Maul-kee-zau-deck), a gigantic hideous snotty ogre that keeps wild pets such as lions, wolves, black bears and hyenas, saved the Kingdom of Children operated by Joringel and Joringa in the final book of this trilogy, The Grimm Conclusion. As hideous as these beings looked, Hansel & Gretel, Jack & Jill, and Joringel & Joringa would not have completed what they longed to achieve without these characters selfless acts of courage.

"Don't judge a book by its cover" is the absolute theme in these three stories of the Grimm Trilogy. Something or someone may be ugly and frightening on the outer shell, but always give it a chance, show some respect, because you might be missing out on something extraordinary, something historical. Hansel & Gretel, Jack & Jill, and Joringel & Joringa all gave second chances to many gnarly imaginary and awesome monsters and the result was victorious and exciting.