The Fairy Tale Detectives (The Sisters Grimm, Book 1) - Hardcover

Buckley, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0810959259 ISBN 13: 9780810959255

Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2005

Synopsis

With the winning combination of Nancy Drew meets Shrek, this first book in the new Sisters Grimm series will entertain with a hilarious mix of mysteries and fairy tale twists.

In the tradition of Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events and The Spiderwick Chronicles comes a new humorous mystery of fantastic circumstances. The Sisters Grimm (Book One): The Fairy Tale Detectives introduces us to two orphaned sisters, Sabrina and Daphne, who are sent to live with their mysterious grandmother, Relda Grimm. Grandmother Grimm lives in a strange town in New York State, known for it's extraordinary number of unexplained and unusual crimes. As soon as the sisters arrive, they begin to unravel a mystery that leads to their ancestors' magical beginnings. Sabrina and Daphne learn they are descendants of the Brothers Grimm, who were actually detectives of the magical phenomenon perpetrated by the Everafters, a parallel race of magical beings. They soon discover it is the Grimm family's legacy to keep the Everafters in line and the two sisters are the sole heirs to this challenge!

In this first book in the series, the girls are pitted against giants, who have been rampaging through town in their search for an Englishman named Jack, currently working at the Big & Tall store.

In a new breed of mystery that intermingles humor, excitement, adventure and imagination, The Sisters Grimm Book One: The Fairy Tale Detectives will inject the legends of fairytale with modern day sensibilities and suspense, creating an irresistible combination young readers will love!

About this title

About the Authors

This is Michael Buckley’s first book. He has written and developed television programming for Nickelodeon, VH1, MTV, MTV Animation, Discovery Channel and TLC, most notably two documentaries, The Mole People and The New Sideshow, that can be seen regularly on Discovery Networks. Michael also writes a monthly humor column for The Idiot Magazine. He lives in New York City.

Peter Ferguson is a comic book and editorial artist who just published his first picture book with the Tricycle Press. He is also the illustrator of the young adult novels, The Anybodies and The Nobodies, by N.E. Bode. He lives in Montreal, Canada.

Reviews

Grade 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 © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0810959259
• ISBN 13: 9780810959255
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Ferguson Peter
• Number of pages: 192