Michael BuckleyThe Inside Story (The Sisters Grimm, Book 8)

Sabrina and Daphne Grimm will do anything to get their baby brother back from the Master who stole him - including following the Master into the Book of Everafter. The book contains all of the world's fairytales and Sabrina and Daphne travel through several fairytales in search of their brother. But they have more than the Master to worry about - as they travel, they inadvertently change the story lines of several stories, much to the dismay of the Editor. The Editor is determined to keep the fairytales as they were originally written and sends his revisers to correct the stories - and the revisers won't stop for anyone in their way - even Sabrina and Daphne.Michael Buckley continues to weave a magical story line in "The Inside Story", the eighth book in his delightful "The Sisters Grimm" series aimed at ages 9 to 12. He pulls out all the stops here by having Sabrina and Daphne enter the Book of Everafter. Part of the fun is revisiting several stories/fairytales such as "The Wizard of Oz", "Alice in Wonderland", "Pinocchio" and "The Jungle Book" (to name a few) and seeing how various characters act when the plot deviates from the book. There is also a sense of surrealism as some of the characters in the Book of Everafter live in Ferryport Landing and are completely different there than they are in the Book of Everafter. Daphne and Sabrina continue to grow as characters. Sabrina in particular is maturing (preteen girls will no doubt sigh over the "romance" in the book). Buckley has a delightful sense of humor that shows throughout the book (I'd love to know the back story of the editor character) and a wonderful way with words which shows in sentences like "(the Tin Man's) steely expression turned to fear". My one disappointment in the book is that it sometimes feels like filler, as it focuses mostly on Sabrina, Daphne, and Puck while other major characters in the series, like their parents, grandmother, and uncle as well as the residents of Ferryport Landing are barely in it at all. However, judging by the cliffhanger ending they all play a prominent part in the next book in the series."The Inside Story" is a delightful fantasy for readers of all ages.

I was really looking forward to reading the next book after the cliff hanger in book 7.I was ready to read about Puck and Sabrina's blooming relationship, finding the baby brother and stopping the Scarlet hand. The journey through the storybook is not as exciting as i wanted to be, it was kinda of tedious going through the stories i already knew waiting to get mirror. The editor and his revisers were not a great threat to Puck and the Grimm Sisters, so it just seemed like another ingredient in a soup. The secret marriage between Puckabrina is now known, which makes it a little less thrilling, there is not much teasing and not enough one-on-one time between Puck and Sabrina as i expected.SPOILERS AHEAD:Sabrina, Puck and Daphne chase Mirror (head of the Scarlet Hand) and their baby brother into the storybook of everafters, where Pinocchio and Mirror try to change their story to get out of Ferryyport Landing and grow up to be a real man. As the Grimms and Puck travel through and change each Everafter story they are threatened by annoying characters that persist to sticking with the storyline, even if they are fated to death, so they won't be revised by the Editors and his man-eating revisers. Unfortunately, some characters of stories don't want to go back living the same way over, and over again, and offer help to capture Pinocchio and his puppets. Puck, the Grimms and Everafter characters catch mirror and rescue the baby; only minutes later revisers come to fix the changes made to the story where Sabrina must give Mirror back the baby in order to save their lifes. Sabrina becomes more sensitive knowing the danger she is putting everyone in and regrets most of her decisions which cause her to be unlike herself. Puck becomes very sensitive and protective over Sabrina, knowing they are married in the future, throughout the book he is suggesting wedding plans. Granny Relda, Henry and Veronica Grimm find their kids and persuade the Editor entry into the forbidden story, Snow White and the 7 dwarfs. Mirror then travels to his story, and finds the Wicked Queen; where she transports Mirror's body into the baby's, and then Granny Relda sacrifices her body as a vessel for Mirror's spirit. Mirror brings a "dangerous character" our from the margins, Atticus Charmine (brother to William or Billy). Puck eats the poisoned apple and can only be awaken by a kiss from one who truly loves him (Sabrina). The story has changed too much and the story is torn apart, probably affecting the future, and the Grimms have to escape the story before their history is demolished. Henry and Veronica Grimm return with their son.

It must have taken so much work for Michael Buckley to write this book. Why? Because not only did he have to have the traditional fairy tale stories, but he also has to add the Sisters Grimm element. And although I that he did a wonderful job, he still made some mistakes. For example, Sabrina has read the Jungle Book, at the beginning of book two. There is also more to the Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe story. I've heard that Michael Buckley is rewriting the entire Sisters Grimm series, so I expect that these mistakes are being fixed. Despite these mistakes, I still really enjoyed this book and cannot wait to read the next, and final book in the series, The Council of Mirrors.

This 9 volume set was a gift for our 11 year old grandson. He is an avid reader but wasn't sure about a series about the "Sisters" Grimm..hahaha. Since we had already bought him the first 3 volumes, he agreed to at least read the first book.. He called 3 days later to let us know he was so sad to have finished the first 3 books and hoped that "Mimi and Papa would send (him) the rest"? Once he received the remaining 6 books it only took him 7 days to read them all!! Highly recommended for your special reader.

I've read all of the Sisters Grimm books so far, and I have loved every single one of them! This one was brilliant-as per usual. It was hard to wait a year for this book to come out, but when I finally got my copy-I was really brought back to life. Even though Briar Rose wasn't, my love of reading and fairy-tales has! Puck was so funny in this book. His jokes about Sabrina and his wedding made me laugh out loud. Daphne was so darn cute as usual, and Sabrina very leader-ish. Ooh! Now I'm making up words like Daphne, ha. Overall-awesome book!~Lara

This is Buckley's 8th Sisters Grimm book and once again it is full tilt. Daphne and Sabrina Grimm are young sisters, fairy tale detectives and descendents of the great Brothers Grimm. Along with the boy trickster king Puck they chase their arch enemies Pinocchio and The Master through the Book of Everafter, a kind of interactive storybook created to allow the Everafters - the storybook characters that populate the town of Ferryport Landing - to relive their infamous fables, fairy tales and legends. But beyond the stories the three children leap through one after another in search of the Master and the girls' kidnapped baby brother something terrible is lurking in the margins and the final showdown turns out only to be a taste of worse to come.Great fun and the idea of storybook characters being stuck playing out certain roles unable to escape from the boundaries of their stories is quite poignant. The development of the characters of Sabrina, Daphne and Puck is interesting and sweetly sad too as they leave early childhood and Sabrina has to deal with new emerging emotions.

This is another very enjoyable book with different characteristics coming from all ever afters and more. I especially enjoy the sweet nature of Daphne, she reminds me of my younger sister. I think the book is very creative and can probably add more to differentiate from the original story.

My daughter adore activity

I purchased this book for my very bright 10 year old niece who loved it. She could barely put it down.

Great story. Kids love this series.