The Brothers Grimm

The original fairy tales written by The Brothers Grimm were not all sunshine and lollipops; rather, there are
many brutal scenes and cautionary tales told in gruesome detail. Today, gory details have been sanitized to
make stories more palatable to parents whose small children consume them with eager delight.

Then along came Nikita Gill’s Fierce Fairytales: Poems and Stories to Stir Your Soul. The book’s cover
proclaims that Gill’s reimagining of fairytale classics…”dismantles the old-fashioned tropes that have been
ingrained in our minds…gone are the docile women and male saviors (replaced by) fearless princesses,
a new kind of wolf lurking in the concrete jungle, and an independent Gretel who can bring
down monsters on her own.”

What a complete delight this book is! Drawings, poems, stories—all in a beautifully rendered cover—break
apart expectations in fierce ways. No one is slipping anything past these women! They are not waiting for
Prince Charming to “save” them. In the poem “Devour Your Monsters,” Gill opens with “The world is not
allowed to make a meal of you, girl.” It is a message repeated throughout this powerful book—a book that
reclaims the strength that resides in each of us.