In this second installment of the Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley, the girls have to go to school! Sabrina is suspicious of everyone-any one of them could be an Everafter (since they are all in disguise), and they might know something about the disappearance of her parents. Her little sister, Daphne, is having a great time- she has Snow White as a teacher. Things take a turn when Sabrina discovers her teacher hanging from a giant spider web, dead. Of course, the Grimm family is on the case and soon they realize that some of the Everafters had given their children up to Rumpelstiltskin years ago. Are they behind this death? Why are humans being targeted?
Sabrina finds out a lot about herself in this book and is very angry, something that is used against her. Buckley again brings much humor and personality to different fairy tale characters, introducing us to the Pied Piper, Rumpelstiltskin, and a new side of the Big Bad Wolf. I love how he uses parts of the classics in his stories. One example is when Sabrina uses the Magic Mirror to try to find her parents and he (yes, the Mirror is a he) takes her to the Hall of Wonders where magical artifacts are kept. She uses the Golden Cap to call the Winged Monkeys. Anyone who had not read The Wizard of Oz and had only watched the movie would not catch this little detail. He leaves this book with a cliff hanger and the next book doesn’t come out until sometime this spring. Hopefully it won’t be too long of a wait!
Up Next:The Clique by Lisi Harrison
I just finished the delightful first book in the Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley. I met the author at the NCTE/NWP meeting last fall. In this story the girls have been shuffled from foster home to foster home after their parents disappear. They are eventually sent to live with a woman who claims to be their grandmother-even though they had been told by their father that she was dead. It turns out they are the great-great-great-great granddaughters of one of the famous Grimm Brothers and that the Grimm Fairy Tales are not fairy tales at all but history books. The grandmother lives in Ferryport Landing (which used to be called Fairyport Landing until the humans started moving in) with the Everafters (fairy tale characters). The girls soon find out they are next in line to become family fairy tale detectives when their grandmother is taken by a giant!
I laughed so many times reading this book. Buckley uses so many of the characters from well known fairy tales and gives them their own personalities. For instance, the mayor of Ferryport Landing is Mayor Charming who is THE Prince Charming. He thinks way too highly of himself and loves the power that comes with being in charge. The police officers are the Three Little Pigs who have taken on human form but can change back into their pig form and are not so little.
If you like fairy tales I think you’ll like this twist on the classics.
Next up: The Sisters Grimm:The Unusual Suspects
i just finished reading The Summer King by OR Melling. It is EXCELLENT! A teen is asked to participate in a mission to help save Faerie (and that also might save her sister). The book is steeped in myth and legend both Faerie and Irish. Melling draws readers into the story in such a way to where one might become a believer in faries by the end.
Laurel doesnt believe in faries at the beginning, but her sister did. In order to begin her mission she is told to “Act as if ye believe and see what happens.” I think I am going to start using that motto in my life. 
I don’t think this book is out yet but I got an uncorrected proof at the National Council of Teachers of English/ National Writing Project Meeting in Pittsburgh last fall. I am glad I picked it up. I plan to get some of her others now and check them out.
if you like young adult fantasy- pick it up!
