Grimmtabulous

Hours and hours in the car on summer vacation leads to a lot of good reading time for the young one. We found a new series before hitting the road that J has just been devouring – The Grimmtastic Girls.

We saw these books when wandering the aisles of a Barnes & Noble. Total tangent here, but this is why it is so sad that books stores are failing. You find new books by just wandering. I love my little local book store, but it can’t compare to a store with more room to house a wider selection of books. Okay, I digress. These books are written by Joan Holub of the Goddess Girls series, which actually made me have to think about whether or not J could read them. I am not a fan of the Goddess Girls books. I started reading the first book in the series and was put off by the writing, the pettiness, and the sheer brainless conversation. In looking at Wikipedia, I see now that the first book was written in 2003 and the later books were not written until 2010, so perhaps they improve greatly – they get good reviews from people I trust, so I do need to give them a better chance. For now, the Grimmtastic Girls series seems like a better group of books and so far J has inhaled the first two.

The concept behind this series is that the characters live in Grimmlandia and attend the prestigious Grimm Academy. We first meet Cinda on her first day of school where her step-sisters, “the steps,” try to make her life miserable by not informing her about rules at the school, give her bad information, and yet want her to cozy up to the new Prince so that he dances with them at the upcoming ball. Luckily, Cinda befriends Red, Rapunzel and Snow White and together they maneuver the school.

J laughs out loud when she reads these books. She feels connected to the characters and has already decided that she is most like Red who has a love of acting. The books take a start from the classic fairy tales, but they are definite retellings and the characters have unique characteristic traits. Cinda is a tomboy who hates dancing and loves sports. She signs up for balls class because her step-sisters have convinced her that it is the equivalent of gym.  Red is a girl born to act who unfortunately has a bade case of stage freight. Red also has a bad sense of direction and a crush on a boy named Wolfgang who just might be a member of the E.V.I.L. society.

These are a fun read for a young reader 2nd grade and up.