The Unusual Suspects

Book: The Unusual Suspects (Book Two of The Sisters Grimm)
Author: Michael Buckley
Audience: Grades 4-6
In a Nutshell: killer spiders, frog-girl monsters, attack rabbits and more when fairy tale offspring run amock

Sabrina and Chloe Grimm are the great-great-great-great-granddaughters of Wilhelm Grimm, of Brothers Grimm fame. Two years after the disappearance of their parents, the sisters Grimm have gone to live with their grandmother, Relda, in her crazy old house in Ferryport Landing. As it turns out, fairy tale creatures are real, they left Europe 200 years ago to escape persecution, and they all live in Ferryport (formerly Fairyport)Landing. A magical barrier keeps them in town, where the Grimm family can keep an eye on them. When there's a mystery involving the Everafters, the Grimms are the detectives to solve it. In this second book in the series, the sisters start school, just in time for the mysterious and gruesome murders of two school staff members. In the midst of the investigation, Sabrina puts up with pranks from Puck (the trickster king), and struggles with pre-pubescent bouts of anger and her growing prejudice against all Everafters. Throw in a rampaging herd (flock? warren? pod?) of rabbits and you've got yourself a story.

This series got off to a good start with Book One, The Fairy Tale Detectives, and I've heard that Book Three is good, but this middle child is a little weak. It wasn't bad, but the message about anger and prejudice gets pretty heavy-handed at the end, and the plot doesn't exactly skip right along. Maybe I've just had my fill of fairy tale twisters for now after The Big Over Easy, but this one didn't grab me.

Generally speaking, the series has got orphans searching for their parents and lots of odd, sometimes macabre goings-on. Sound familiar? It's worth a try for Lemony Snicket fans in search of something to tide them over until The End arrives on Friday the Thirteenth of October (how perfect).