The Grimm Conclusion

Starred review from September 30, 2013
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and Gidwitz deploys his successful formula of bloody happenings and narratorial intrusion in his third and final installment of unexpurgated fairy tales. The protagonists are Jorinda and Joringel, who go through hair-raising and stomach-churning travails similar to those of their predecessors, Hansel and Gretel (in A Tale Dark & Grimm) and Jack and Jill (from In a Glass Grimmly); there are even a few cameo appearances by characters from the earlier books. Among the sources this time are “Cinderella” and “Sleeping Beauty,” lesser-known tales such as “The Juniper Tree” and “The Boy Who Left Home to Find Fear,” and a few non-Grimm tales. Reflecting his love of theory, Gidwitz takes an excursion into metafiction near the end that highlights the power of story, one of two key themes, along with the folly of repressing one’s feelings. Underneath the gore, the wit, and the trips to Hell and back, this book makes it clearer than ever that Gidwitz truly cares about the kids he writes for. Ages 10–up. Agent: Sarah Burnes, the Gernert Company.

September 15, 2013
The names change, but the characters and themes not so much as Gidwitz takes a pair of children through a third series of folk-tale scenarios punctuated with washes of blood, fire, tears and parental issues that presage readers' encounters with Bruno Bettelheim. Before finally making good on their vow never to part, twins Jorinda and Joringel hie off on separate plotlines. Jorinda, as Ashputtle (freely translated as "Toilet Cleaner"), is betrothed to a comically clueless prince, survives three nights in an ogre's haunted castle, becomes a child tyrant queen and is murdered. Joringel, magically reconstituted after having his head snipped off by his stepfather, swallows a fear-killing juniper berry, gives Sleeping Beauty CPR and rescues his sister from hell with help from the devil's grandmother. So intrusive a narrator that even his characters hear him, Gidwitz offers commentary and (necessarily frequent) warnings about upcoming shocks. He then later steps in to shepherd his protagonists to modern Brooklyn for some metafictional foolery before closing with notes on his sources. After many tears, few of them happy ones, and much reference to suppressed feelings of anger and guilt, the children are reconciled with their neglectful, widowed mother and go on to a happy-ever-after in an anarchic day camp dubbed Jungreich, the Kingdom of Children. Entertaining story-mongering, with traditional and original tropes artfully intertwined. (Fantasy. 11-14)

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December 1, 2013

Gr 4-8-The conclusion to the trilogy that began with A Tale Dark and Grimm (2010) and continued with In a Glass Grimmly (2012, both Dutton) is equally gorey and awesomely dark. Jumping outside normal book conventions, Gidwitz not only relies on the previously recounted horror, but he also embraces and integrates it into the plot. "The third raven blinked at the little boy. 'The metafictional dimensions of that statement are kind of blowing my mind.'" Fans of these gruesome tales will not blink an eye, and newcomers are more likely to return to the previous titles to catch up than to find the references off-putting. The assured voice of the storyteller continues to be distinctive and clearly indicated by the bold type. Jorinda and Joringel, main characters in these adventures, gradually take on this storyteller role, upending the expected, and provide a satisfying conclusion while extolling the power of story. As innovative as they are traditional, the stories maintain clear connections with traditional Grimm tales while creatively connecting to the narrative, and all the while keeping the proceedings undeniably grisly and lurid. Gidwitz includes a note regarding the sources of his stories, which are not just Grimm, but also include Peter Dickinson, Hans Christian Andersen, Eric Kimmel, and his own fertile imagination. Readers will rejoice.-Carol A. Edwards, Denver Public Library, CO

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2013
Grades 4-7 In this final entry in Gidwitz's trilogy, the author once again mashes together unsugarcoated versions of classic fairy tales. Twins Jorinda and Joringel suffer gruesome fates at the hands of their stepfathernaturallybut that's only the beginning. Once they dispatch him, they stumble into other well-known fairy tales, such as Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, as well as some less familiar stories, like The Juniper Tree. The metafictional approach can get distracting; along with regular interactions with the reader, Gidwitz eventually shares a pizza with, and reads his previous two novels to, Jorinda and Joringel. But interested readers won't be there for the narrative structure. No, they'll show up for the awesomely dark stories, full of beheadings, corpses, tyrants, murder, and terrible adults who treat children awfully until those children are empowered to fight back, taking the narrative power into their own hands to tell the stories with the happy endings they want to hear. Fans of the series will eagerly pore over this volume, which can comfortably stand on its own.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)