Book Club Guide for A Tale Dark & Grimm

Updated: Oct 29

A Tale Dark & Grimm

By Adam Gidwitz

For Ages 8-12

Genre: Fantasy

Once upon a time, fairy tales were awesome! If you're looking for a book that goes bump in the night or to pull reluctant readers in, look no further. Use these discussion questions, snacks, and activities during your next book club for a grimmly good time. A Tale Dark & Grimm is great for tween and homeschool book clubs or an October book party.

Discussion Questions

In addition to the general book club questions for fiction books found here, below are my favorite questions to ask groups specific to A Tale Dark & Grimm.

Did anyone heed the narrator's warnings and skip parts or shut the book? Was that the right decision?
Was anyone brave enough to read the book alone at night and how did it go?
The story was made up of nine classic Grimm Tales, did you have a favorite? Why?
Which of the tales did you think was the scariest? Why?
Do you think Hansel and Gretel should have left the castle to find a new family? Why?
If you heard doves telling you to “go home…to a murderer’s house you’ve come” what would you do? (p. 98)
The village people mentioned stories about the dragon being a person. Did you expect it to be a person before you found out?
Were Hansel and Gretel’s parents (the king and queen) good parents?
The children end up cutting off their dad’s head like he cut off theirs; do you think he will second guess them like they did to him?
What were some good decisions and bad decisions Hansel and Gretel made throughout the book?

Snack

Build your own Hansel and Gretel Graham Cracker Houses - A snack AND a craft!

The baker woman's house is made of chocolate cake, so give attendees chocolate graham crackers and frosting to make their own confectionery houses. Candy corn, gum drops, and gummy bears make great decorations.

Other food items from the story include German bread with butter, goose, eggs, and wild boar bacon, plus, sausage, potato, and cool milk were all served to Hansel and Gretel by the baker woman (p. 41). Warm milk and black forest cookies are eaten with the seven swallow brothers and rabbit is caught and cooked by Hansel in the woods (p. 75).

ACTIVITIES

Severed Finger Toss

With so many fingers being cut off in this story, you can't play a game without them! This activity was inspired by Gretel's time in the murderer's house when he tossed his victim's finger and it landed in her lap.

Have the kids partner up and stand 5-10 feet away from each other. One person sits down with their legs crossed and the other remains standing with their back turned towards their partner. The standing partner tosses fingers over their shoulder (without looking) and tries to get them to land in their partner's lap. It's good old-fashioned, disgusting fun!

We've used candy fingers from Target (purchased at Halloween) and Glow-in-the-Dark Witch Fingers from Michaels for this activity in the past.

German Names

In honor of the Grimm Brothers' German heritage, have the attendees choose a traditional German name by which they'll be called throughout the program. Provide name tags, markers, and a list of names to choose from, such as Dieter, Friedrich, Hans, Heinrich, Hermann, Jonas, Otto, Wilhelm, Frieda, Gretel, Liesl, Ingrid, Gertrud, Hildegard, Helga, Ursula.

Story Charades

Kids act out a scene or motion from one of the nine tales from A Tale Dark & Grimm while the rest of the group guesses the tale. The nine tales are Faithful Johannes, Hansel and Gretel, The Seven Swallows, Brother and Sister (in which Hansel turns into a beast), A Smile as Red as Blood, The Three Golden Hairs, and Hansel & Gretel and the Dragon.

Trivia

Testing your book club members' knowledge is always a fun way to liven up the group and get even the quiet members talking:

What did Gretel loose on the way to Crystal Mountain to save the 7 brothers? (The chicken bone key p. 62)
What did they use to unlock the door? (Gretel's middle finger - She cut it off! Gretel cut it off to use as they key! p. 63)
How do you pronounce these words in German and what do you think they mean? Lebenwald, the Wood of Life (LAY-ben-vault p. 73) and Schwarzwald, the Wood of Darkness (SHVAHTS-vault p. 86)
Who did Hansel see in the pits in Hell? (The baker woman and the murderer with striking green eyes p. 133)
Why did the demons take Hansel to the Devil? (Because he smiled every time he popped up out of the liquid fire pit p. 137)
What did the Devil do to stop the wine from flowing in the fountain? (Placed a frog under it p. 146)
How did the devil stop a tree from producing golden apples? (He placed a mouse under it at the root where it is nibbling at the roots and killing it p. 147)
What will allow the ferryman to leave his post? (If he hands off the paddle to someone else p. 148)

Grimm Fairy Tales Quiz

In 1812, the Brothers Grimm published their first collection of 86 fairy tales. By 1857, their collection had grown to more than 200! Many of their tales are well known classics, however, as we learned in A Tale Dark & Grimm, the original tales were much different than the ones we are familiar with today. Read the following descriptions and have your attendees guess which fairy tale is being described:

The Evil Queen was not the main character's stepmother but her actual mother and the punishment for her evil deads was to wear iron shoes that had been heated in a fire and dance until she fell down dead. In addition to the heart, the Hunstman was asked to bring her liver and her lungs too. (Snow White)
A fox called Scrapefoot enters a palace, sleeps in the residents’ beds, and messes with their a salmon of knowledge. In the end he is thrown out the window or eaten, depending on who is telling the story. (Goldilocks & The Three Bears)
A frog annoys a princess so much that he is thrown against a wall which transforms him into a prince. In another version, she must cut off his head to turn him into a prince! (The Frog Prince)
Two stepsisters cut off their toes and heels to fit them into glass slippers and later have their eyes pecked out by doves. (Cinderella)