Review – Lies, Knives, and Girls in Red Dresses by Ron Koertge and Andrea Dezso (3.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy/Poetry
Size: 96 pages
Publisher: Candlewick
Release Date: July 10, 2012
ISBN: 978-0763644062
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

I picked this book up at the library because the cover caught my eye. This is a darkly fun and twisted set of poems covering a number of fairy and folktales. I enjoyed it and thought it was a quick and fun read.

This was an interesting, disturbing, and darkly humorous collection of poetry retellings of fairy/folk tales. Everything from Red Riding Hood to the Little Match Girl is covered in this mix.

The artwork throughout this book is stark black and white cut-outs which match the twisted and blunt style of the poetry well. Many of the poems are full of irony and unexpected twists. Some of the poems also have a bit of a modern twist to them; for example the Little Match girl sells CDs not matches on the street.

I found this in the young adult section of the library, which kind of surprised me. There is implied rape, incest, cannibalism, and all other types of violent and somewhat questionable content in here. None of it is explicit, but it’s there. So I would recommend for older young adults only.

Surprisingly this poetry does an excellent job of echoing the dark and grisly nature of the original Grimm fairy tales. The poetry also adds some humor and irony to the mix which makes it even more fun to read.

I love fairy tale retellings and ended up enjoying this collection a lot. It was a quick and amusing read and echoes the original Grimm Fairy Tales well.

Overall I enjoyed this. It is a great collection of humorous, twisted, and dark fairy tale retellings. The artwork is stark and matches the tone of the fairy tales well. I would recommend this to those who like fairy tales retellings that are dark, slightly disturbing, and a bit humorous.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– 100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge
– 150+ Reading Challenge
– Color Coded Reading Challenge – Young Adult Reading Challenge