The Sister Who Ate Her Brothers

November 1, 2021
Fourteen international stories embrace their gore. Poet Campbell directly addresses readers in the foreword to this collection of grisly tales from around the world, explaining that, once upon a time, these "brilliant, horrible tales" were well known. But people altered them and gave them " 'happily ever afters' where nothing really awful happened and, well, a lot of them became boring." This collection of unsourced stories intentionally avoids the Disney-fication of folklore: A Chinese girl is mummified by the skin of a horse that wants to marry her; a greedy Russian prince marries a button-eyed cuckoo resembling his sister; Korean children are tricked into eating their parents. These tales are disturbing--and satisfyingly so--but in ways that might make it hard to find an appropriate audience. Readers who are ready for stories of wine (or could it be clotted blood?) and seven wives impregnated at once might feel like they're too old for a collection of fairy tales, although certainly many gore-loving middle-grade readers will devour these. Atmospheric illustrations pair effectively with the text, and Campbell departs from tradition to include overtly feminist stories as well as gay and lesbian romance without a hint of societal condemnation. An afterword explains more about the author's perspective and reasons behind some of the liberties she takes with the original stories. Characters are presented as racially diverse. Creepy and progressive. (Folklore. 9-13)

COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 4, 2021
As gleefully retold by Campbell, traditional tales from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and Central America reflect two layers of revision—a reversion to grisly details usually squeamishly edited out, and updated plots and characters that reflect a more inclusive worldview, with queer and disabled protagonists of many ethnicities. Some stories chill, such as “The Souls Trapped Under the Ocean (Ireland),” in which a man who uses sign language is troubled to discover that the merman he loves has “tiny pieces of other people’s souls, all stitched together” in a composite soul. Others are more forthrightly gory: “The Boy Who Tricked a Troll (Norway)” features a disembowelment, with “guts tumbling out” and landing “with a wet splash,” and in “The Princess Who Ruled the Sea (Inuit),” a king uses an axe to cut off his daughter’s fingers “one by one.” De Souza’s conventionally hip, cartoonish illustrations blunt the well-told tales’ sharp edges, but not their messages of resourcefulness and diversity. Ages 9–12.