Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
The Sisters Grimm: Book Eight - The Inside Story
Illustrator: Peter Ferguson
Fiction Series
For ages 8 to 12
Abrams, 2010 ISBN: 978-0810984301
When we last saw them, Daphne, Sabrina, and Puck, they were chasing after Mirror, who they had just found out was the leader of the Scarlet Hand organization and a master villain. All three children are shocked to discover that the Everafter whom they thought was their ally, is actually their deadliest enemy. Apparently, this whole mess with the Scarlet Hand came about because Mirror is tired of being an Everafter. He wants to become a real human being. Worse still, he plans on using Daphne and Sabrina’s baby brother as a “vessel” for his transformation.
To be able to make this happen, Mirror needs to get into his story to change it, and to do this he jumps into the Book of Everafter, a book where all the world’s fairytales are kept. Though they are not at all happy about jumping into a book, Daphne, Sabrina, and Puck follow, and they arrive in the land of Oz. Yes, that Oz, the one with the yellow brick road, talking animals, and a collection of wicked witches. The children quickly discover that they are expected to follow through with the story, but they have neither the time nor the inclination to do this. All they want to do is to find the doorway to the next story so that they can catch up with Mirror and the kidnapped baby. All they want to do is to get the baby back so that they can go home. To do this, the children skip whole sections of the story and generally mess up the storyline in a big way. They soon discover that this is not acceptable behavior. The integrity of the stories needs to be maintained, and if anyone tweaks it in any way, they will get into all kinds of trouble. More trouble. That’s just want the Grimms need.
This is the eighth story in the Sisters Grimm series, and readers who have been following the trials of the Grimm sisters will be delighted with this adventure. The author continues to build up the suspense that began at the beginning of book seven, revealing startling secrets along the way, and giving us hope, every so often, that perhaps things might work out after all.
