Grimm

So, 200 long years since the brothers Grimm released their first collection of stories.  Today they are still in print, made into movies and elements used in todays cartoons and kids TV.

I remember as a young child listening to the Marshall Cavendish Storyteller tapes with my brother.  Mum would put us in bed and we could lie and listen to different stories and read along with the books, the tape would sound a little bell ring and we would know when to turn the page.  This is where I was first introduced to the Brothers Grimm.  No sugar coating, soft descriptions and baby talk for kids in the early 1980s.  I remember stoic english actors reading directly from the books with no adaptation.  Hansel and Gretel in particular stayed with me for days and certainly stopped me from being greedy and getting so fat that a witch might want to eat me.  I remember vividly there being a quote about the witch wanting the children to poke their fingers through the bars so she could see if the fingers were fat enough to ‘suck your bones’.  Thanks mum and dad, we didnt need sleep anyway!!

Nowadays there is an abundance of childrens stories some great and some just working for the man.  The marketing and licensing machine creating wealth for the few.  But will the collection of Wiggles books and Madonnas attempt at a childs story be shared, revered and celebrated 200 years on?  Which ones would make the grade?

Share them and I will list them on my blog!

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