Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
The Sisters Grimm: Book Five - Magic and Other Misdemeanors
Illustrator: Peter Ferguson
Fiction Series
For ages 8 to 12
Harry Abrams, 2007 ISBN: 978-0810916104
Since their last big case came to its dramatic conclusion, Sabrina and Daphne Grimm and their Granny Relda have been trying to find a way to wake up the children’s parents. To no avail. None of their grandmother’s many magic books contains a spell or potion that will help. Finally Granny decides to invite some Everafter friends over. Perhaps one of them will have a suggestion that will work.
None of the Everafters, not even the thoroughly nasty and very powerful Baba Yaga, have a solution for the Grimms but they do promise to work on the problem. Then, just after the get-together, several magical items are stolen from three of the people who attended the party. Baba Yaga is particularly upset about the theft of her Merlin’s wand and it takes all of Granny Relda’s skills to calm the dangerous witch down. Granny promises to get on the case and soon the Grimms are out and about in Ferryport Landing trying to gather clues.
This time Sabrina and Daphne have to work on the case mostly on their own because the new mayor of Ferryport Landing is imposing hefty taxes on the human residents of the town. Granny Relda has her hands full trying to raise enough money so she doesn’t lose her house. The girls are making some progress when they have a most bizarre experience; they are sucked into a tear in time and catapulted into the future. What they find fifteen years in the future is quite terrible. Luckily they are able to find a way to get back to their own time and they go home knowing that more than ever, they have to solve this case. Somehow the case of the stolen magical objects is very important and they have to change events enough so that the frightening future that they saw does not come to pass.
In this book, the fifth in the marvelous Sisters Grimm series, matters get very sticky indeed for Daphne, Sabrina, and the people they care about. Readers will quickly find themselves absorbed in their case but as the tale advances, and the situation for the girls worsens, the reader will find it nigh on impossible to stop reading. How are they going to be able to stop the future from coming to pass? Will Granny lose her home and be forced to leave Ferryport Landing? The denouement is that you are going to have wait for the next book to find out.
