Things Are Looking Grimm, Jill.

Sylvia Pantaleo is an assistant professor of education specializing in
children’s literature at Queen’s University and the co-author of
Learning with Literature in the Canadian Elementary Classroom.

Princess Jill, the spoiled daughter of Mother Goose and sister of King Jack, is training to be a Royal Guard. However, according to Sir Humpty Dumpty, head of the Royal Guard, Jill also needs to work on being humble and courteous. Jill receives a letter of distress from F.G. stating that a mysterious affliction has overcome the women in the neighbouring land of Grimm. Coincidentally, Jill herself has experienced an overpowering image of a handsome rider on a white horse. With her mother’s blessings, Jill departs on her journey and quickly befriends a very contrary Mary.

Jill meets F.G. (Fairy Godmother) and learns more about the mysterious behaviour of the women of Grimm, which is somehow connected to Prince Charming. During Jill’s efforts at solving the mystery, she encounters several famous Grimm heroines including Rapunzel, Cinderella, Snow White, and Gretel. Jill’s sleuthing exposes a plot by the scoundrel Iron Hans to steal everyone’s gold. However, with further investigation and with some assistance from F.G., Jill discovers the true identity of the villain.

The fractured fairytale contains numerous intertextual connections to Mother Goose and Grimm characters. Bar-el’s parodic depiction of characters and events adds to the humour of the book, as do the black-and-white illustrations of characters with exaggerated features. The adventurous plot moves quickly and the text is written with large font, characteristic of books in the Orca Young Readers series. Recommended.