The Brothers Grimm Fairtytales

Title: Brides on Their Trial, The Moon, The Sweetheart, The Aged Mother

Author: the Grimm Brothers

Publisher: Bantam

Date: 1999

Number of pages: 353 pages

Reading level: 9 and up

Genre: Fairyales

Summary: It's hard to summarize just four of the fairytales I read. The moon was about 4 gentlemen who owned the moon. When each of them passed away, they requested that the 1/4 they owned be buried alongside with them. When he fourth one passed, there was complete darkness that filled the land - but the quarters that were buried with their owners now gathered together and lit up the underworld. St. Peter left the gates to tell the dead to lay back down and rest again.

The Brides and their trials could be compared to a variation of a cinderella story - which also is a Grimm Brothers fairytale. A prince asks his mother which of the three beautiful sisters shall he marry, if he has to choose but one. The mother tells him to invite all three over for cheese. The first sister eats the entire cheese, he second cuts off the rind - but cuts too much, and the third peels off the rind and it's perfect. The mother councils that the son pick the third sister as she is frugile and percise.

The aged mother was mourning over the loss of her two sons...Each of the fairytales varies where they aren't always happy and with positive endings. Many of the Brothers Grimm fairytales are gruesome and not always so delightfully friendly.

My reaction: I love the style and honesty behind the Brothers Grimm. I feel that it relates more to real life as reality isn't always sunshine and rainbows. Grimm's have a way of telling it how it is, remaining entertaining and also sharing variations to popular stories that turn them into more colorful classics.

Potential problems: Sometimes mildly graphic. Different variations, and bloody.

My recommendation: I would recommend teachers in literature classes in high school share the fairy tales by the Grimm Brothers, and encourage them to read some of the 'not so famous ones'. I feel that students of that age will be able to appreciate the literary works more so then the average child. These specific fairy tales can be used as a teaching tool in classrooms that you can stray away from the classic story, yet stay true to the meaning and entertainment value that fairy tales offer. I will share the Grimm Brothers fairy tales in any classroom I might teach in, and also implement them in my own home.