Snow White and the Seven Samurai by Tom Holt

If you like Terry Pratchett or Jasper Fforde, Tom Holt might also be up your alley, filled with what I like to think of as British humor--rather dry and self-referential.

Our story begins with the wicked Queen's mirror, but when the Queen steps out for a moment, three kid-hackers break into the fairy tale reality and quickly set everything amok when they crash the Mirrors (computer) system.

With plenty of puns and loads of fairy tale references, though mostly well-known tales, this is an enjoyable read. The story is a bit disorganized and the ending is not as fully satisfying as I hoped it would be. However, seeing the stories come together and clash is always one of my favorite things to do, and this book is chock-full of that. If you like mashups of multiple stories, this is a fun one.

The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm

This remnant from my childhood came up recently as I was going through the old VHS tapes for the ones that simply had to be updated to a new medium. You may recall the 2005 film The Brothers Grimm going by and throwing historic relevancy to the wind (although it had its own charms). This film, while whimsical, not to mention musical, does at least try to stick to some various historical details.

A few, anyway.

The musical tells the story of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, both of whom are determined to be taken seriously as writers. As I recall, Wilhelm is insistent that they finish the autobiographies they've been commissioned, while Jacob is easily diverted by folklore. In the end they see that both are important to the history of their people and work together the rest of their lives writing stuff down. A happy ending for all!

Also included within the frame of the Brothers' story are three fairy tales: The Dancing Princess, The Cobbler and the Elves, and The Singing Bone. These were always my favorite parts of the movie as I was growing up.

The only one I could find an exerpt from:

The VHS is now available used on amazon.com, while the DVD appears to be catalogued but isn't available. You can sign up to be notified of availability, though, so I guess that's something!

If you haven't seen this, and you're part of this community, I'd recommend it just for the fairy tale shorts. Or just for the Brothers Grimm. Which means you've all now got a double recommendation. So, go, I bid thee, and inter-library loan.

The Brothers Grimm: Two Lives, One Legacy by Donald R. Hettinga

I went to the public library absolutely DETERMINED not to look at the new books (since they check back a week earlier than older books). But all my efforts were thwarted when this caught my eye:

Well of course I had to check it out. It was all shiny and stuff.

The Brothers Grimm: Two Lives, One Legacy is a fairly light look at the combined biography of my two favorite brothers. It skims over the details of their lives, from birth to death, and sets out for the reader the path that led them to collect their nation's folktales, as well as the other writing they did over the course of their lives. Liberally illustrated with portraits from the time, pictures from the places, and drawings done by their brother, Ludwig Grimm (both of the fairy tales and the scenery and people in their lives), it's an excellent book to check out if you want to know a little more about the master story collectors without devoting a great deal of time to it.

Fitcher's Bird by Grimm/Cindy Sherman

This is a straight up rendition of Fitcher's Bird, from the brothers Grimm, but illustrated with photographs by Cindy Sherman. Now, I have to say right from the beginning, dolls are creepy enough as it is. Juxtaposed with this Bluebeard variant, this book hits my goosebumps button.

There's nothing inherently gory, here, so I'm not saying that it couldn't be a kids' book... if you're okay with telling your kids the gruesome story in the first place. The art is all quite beautiful, if, as I have said, completely macabre.

This is very worthwhile, if you're a fairy tale collector.

Banned Books Week: Children's and Household Tales

Welcome to Banned Books Week on Fairy Layers! While not all of my selections are strictly fairy tale adaptations, I have made an effort to include books with fairy tales themes and tropes. All of the books selected for BBW (September 25th - October 2nd) have been banned or challenged for various reasons. I hope you enjoy!

I'm sure it comes as no surprise to you to read that book challenges are not a recent phenomenon. Thomas Bowdler made a name for himself by editing Shakespeare into editions that would be considered more suitable for women and children. And the Brothers Grimm, from their first collection of folk tales in 1812, spent the next 7 editions of their book adding and removing stories and content in response to reviews that said that too many of their stories were inappropriate for children, in spite of the collection's name, Children's and Household Tales.

Fortunately, a lot of the editions available today include the original, bloodier and grimmer, versions of the tales.

Even recently, the collection or stories from the collection have continued to be challenged. In 1989, an illustrated edition of Little Red Riding Hood was banned from two school districts--and do you suppose it was because the story was too scary? There was too much symbolism of growing up and predatory sexual circumstances?? The wolf was gay???

Nope.

It was because Little Red was depicted as carrying a bottle of wine to her grandmother.