A Tale Dark and Grimm

A Tale Dark and Grim by Adam Gidwitz (Dutton Books for Young Readers, 2010) is a middle-grade dark fantasy/horror novel. It follows Hansel and Gretel across several Grimm Brothers fairy tales as they learn the importance of family and forgiveness.

In 2010, A Tale Dark and Grimm was a New York Times Editors’ Choice pick, a Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book of the Year, a School Library Journal Best Children’s Book of the Year, and an American Library Association’s (ALA) Notable Book. It won the Charlotte Award for grades sixth-eighth (2012) and the Kentucky Bluegrass Award for grades sixth-eighth (2012), and was nominated for several other awards. A Netflix series of the same name ran for one season in 2021.

Gidwitz is the bestselling author of dark fiction for young readers and received a Newbery Honor for his 2016 novel, The Inquisitor’s Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog. Gidwitz grew up in Baltimore, MD, and studied English literature at Columbia University. After graduating, he became a teacher at Saint Ann’s School, where serving as a substitute librarian inspired him to write the Grimm series. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, and writes full-time. This guide follows the 2010 Dutton Books for Young Readers edition of A Tale Dark and Grimm.

Content Warning: The source material contains potentially disturbing or graphic depictions of violence toward children.

Plot Summary

A Tale Dark and Grimm follows Hansel and Gretel through several Brothers Grimm fairy tales on a journey told by an unnamed narrator. Before Hansel and Gretel are born, their father, the king of the kingdom of Grimm, weds the golden princess, who is cursed to lose any man she weds. Faithful Johannes, the king’s most trusted advisor, can’t bear to lose the king. He goes against the king’s wishes and loses his life, turning to stone when he explains why he acted as he did. Overcome with guilt, the king beheads Hansel and Gretel to restore Faithful Johannes to life, which in turn brings Hansel and Gretel back. Everyone else rejoices, but Hansel and Gretel fear they will be beheaded again and run away from home.

The siblings stumble upon a house made of sweets, where an old baker woman tries to eat them. Next, they find a family whose father accidentally curses his seven sons to live as birds. After rescuing the sons, Hansel and Gretel conclude parents are the problem and live by themselves in the woods, where a strange need to hunt turns Hansel into a wolf and gets him captured by a hunting party.

Determined to find her brother, Gretel sets forth from the forest, only to nearly be destroyed by a warlock in another town. Using her cleverness, she defeats him and steals his magic twine that heals any break. Meanwhile, Hansel’s beastly curse is lifted, but his new adopted father gambles him away to the devil. Faithful Johannes escorts Hansel to Hell, where Hansel tricks the devil and escapes so Johannes can reveal the truth of why Hansel and Gretel were beheaded. With gifts from two villages that Hansel freed from devil curses, he returns home, finding Gretel along the way.

Back with their parents, Hansel and Gretel learn a dragon terrorizes the kingdom. They set a trap for the creature, but it somehow knows their plan and destroys many of the kingdom’s people. Gretel manages to wound the dragon. Back at the castle, her father has injuries that match those of the dragon. The dragon has taken over the king’s body, and Gretel beheads her father to get the dragon out. She and Hansel reattach their father’s head using the magic twine and forgive him for beheading them long ago, bringing him back to life. Hansel and Gretel are joyfully reunited with their parents, who make the children king and queen for saving them from the dragon.