Truly Grim Tales ANNOTATION
A guilt-ridden prince with a foot fetish seeking his glass-slippered dance partner and a beauty contest winner as Snow White's murderous stepmother are featured in two of the original "grim" plots in this young adult collection loosely based on eight traditional fairy tales.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Based on the well-known fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault, and Hans Christian Andersen, these retellings will intrigue and disturb readers. From a futuristic "Little Red Riding Hood" in which giant clams and carnivorous beasts stalk humans, to the real reason why the giant in "Jack and the Beanstalk" needs to eat human bones, to a version of "Snow White" told from the wicked stepmother's point of view, fans of fairy and folk tales will find much to interest them.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Cinderella's princely suitor has a foot fetish; Rumpelstiltskin deliberately lets his name be known to the hapless miller's daughter, who-unknown to her-is really Rumpelstiltskin's daughter; Snow White's stepmother, who comes from an abusive home, worked at a slaughterhouse before winning a beauty contest. Galloway broodingly revisits eight classic fairy tales, prowling about their dark corners to lay in additional helpings of pain and loss. A few of her plots are overwrought and none of them produces the frisson of The Magic Circle, Donna Jo Napoli's masterly reworking of Hansel and Gretel. And yet their subversive promise to reveal the ``real'' story, and even their morbidly romantic motifs of self-sacrifice, intelligently cater to adolescent tastes. Nearly operatic in their conception and accomplished in their execution, these stories could also serve as a guide to young writers: their inventive, vigorous exploration of familiar territory easily stimulates the reader's own imagination. Ages 12-up. (Sept.)
School Library Journal
Gr 7 Up-Lovers of twisted fairy tales will eat up this collection. Eight unfamiliar stories from the Grimms, Perrault, and Andersen are retold from the viewpoints of the villainous characters now recast in more sympathetic roles, or at least shown to have human frailties. In ``The Name,'' for example, the lonely Rumplestiltskin is torn between allowing the young queen (his long-lost daughter) to know his name and wanting to raise his grandchild himself. ``The Good Mother,'' a version of ``Red Riding Hood'' set in a world where humans are in danger from giant clams and carnivorous beasts, reveals the wolf's main concern to be feeding her starving pups. ``The Prince'' is a sullen, twisted young man with a foot fetish who is fascinated by the sight of two small feet in glass slippers. Galloway has done a masterful job of getting inside of the characters; the concept of ``two sides to every story'' is illustrated with some excellent examples here. The addition of unusual details, such as the sci-fi setting for ``The Good Mother'' or the poor-trash childhood of Snow White's stepmother in ``A Taste for Beauty,'' underscores the uniqueness of this volume. YAs will appreciate the offbeat approach.-Mary Jo Drungil, Niles Public Library District, IL
BookList - Anne O'Malley
Give the Rapunzel tale a Bedouin setting and mix in elements from "The Princess and the Pea." Tell "Snow White" from the wicked queen's point of view in a present-day setting and add elements of gothic horror. Show Cinderella's prince as a miserable fellow whose tyrannical father has put the kabosh on his relationship with his male tutor and commanded him to "find a mate, a female. . . . We will have a ball." Galloway does all this and more in this unusual collection of familiar folktales with startling twists. As the title hints, there is no attempt to sanitize villains or give a gentler cast to gory details. If anything, the sinister element abounds and the blood flows more freely here than in the familiar versions of these eight tales. Readers will enjoy matching the originals with Galloway's newer "grim" versions. The anthology works well for short story collections and folktale curriculum units.
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