I didn’t believe him, when I read the email, because he said he’d gotten my book out of the public library in his neighborhood of L.A. TJ: How did the adaptation process begin? Was it an out-of-the-blue call from Netflix, or had you been working toward turning A Tale Dark & Grimm into an animated series?ĪG: It was an out of the blue email, to my website, from someone who identified himself as a Hollywood producer. A Tale Dark & Grimm makes lots of kids feel seen.
I wrote the book in dialogue with my young audience-telling them stories and listening to their reactions.Įvery reader wants, most of all, to be seen and understood by a book. When I finished, one of them came up to me, stuck her finger in my face, and said, “That was good! You should make that into a book.” A Tale Dark & Grimm not only comes out of the long and brilliant oral tradition of Euro-asian fairy tales it also comes very directly out of telling these stories to kids.
I wrote it because I was telling a terrifying Grimm fairy tale to kids-and warning them about the impending blood and gore and murder all the time. Making the reader feel seen is actually the second reason that, I think, A Tale Dark & Grimm continues to do well. (Humor makes readers feel seen because making someone laugh usually necessitates knowing what they’re thinking-either you play with their expectations, or you reflect their innermost thoughts in a way that surprises and satisfies them). Humor makes you feel taken care of, and seen-and therefore loved. Horror makes you feel alone and afraid-and therefore brave. Horror ratchets up the tension, and humor releases it-which allows the writer to start ratcheting it up again. They work together so beautifully, horror and humor. I don’t think there are enough books out there that do this, books that really lean into the laughs-and really lean into the screams. The first is that it combines humor and horror-and lots of both. Why do you think folks have responded so well to it?Īdam Gidwitz: I think there are two reasons why ATD&G has been popular for more than a decade now. 'Unlike any children's book I've ever read.Travis: Hi Adam! I feel like the A Tale Dark & Grimm trilogy has had such a long life after being published, whereas most books fade fairly quickly. 'Gidwitz manages to balance the grisly violence of the original Grimms' fairy tales with a wonderful sense of humor and narrative voice. It may be frightening, it's certainly bloody, and it's definitely not for the faint of heart. Warlocks with dark spells, hunters with deadly aim, and bakers with ovens retrofitted for cooking children lurk within these pages.īut if you dare, turn the page and learn the true story of Hansel and Gretel - the story behind (and beyond) the bread crumbs, edible houses and outwitted witches.Ĭome on in.
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