The Unusual Suspects (The Sisters Grimm, Bk 2) by Michael Buckley

Reviewed by Aimee

Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Ratings Explanation

Language: Insults and name calling are prevalent throughout this book.  “Dirty little snot face, horse breath, you are as slow as you are ugly, ugly freak, big goon, numbskulls, idiot, stupid, fat boy” and so forth.  (There are way too many to list.) In one place a teacher calls a student a worthless fat body and then says, ”I bet you didn’t forget breakfast.  Everyone can see that.”  The teacher calls all the students morons.  Someone “mumbled a bunch of cuss words Sabrina had never heard before.”  There is talk of barfing and farting.

Violence: Ms. Smirt pinches the girls repeatedly.  Sabrina and Daphne find Mr. Grumpner dead.  They see his “bloodless purple face.”  People are attacked and chased by a frog girl.  Then they are chased by killer bunnies.  Sabrina hits a monster in the head with a shovel.  There is a “sound of ripping flesh” and then a bloody knife.  Monsters capture people and attack Sabrina.  Sabrina breaks her arm and is violently thrown against the wall.  Puck and the Big Bad Wolf fight.  “I’m going to kill you.”  The school explodes in flames and smoke.

Sexual Content: Ms. Smirt tries to flirt.  Daphne says, “You are in love with her.  You want to kiss and hug her!”  Someone gives Snow White “a huge kiss on the mouth.”

Synopsis

In this second book of the Sisters Grimm series, Sabrina and Daphne continue to help their grandma solve mysteries in the small town of Fairyport Landing.  Fairyport Landing is the town where the Everafters  live.  Everafters are actually fairy-tale characters who fled Europe to escape persecution.  Settling in the little river town almost two hundred years ago, they now use magical disguises to live and work alongside their normal neighbors.  Sabrina and Daphne start school and find Snow White as a teacher and the Pied Piper as the principal.  When the kids find a teacher dead, they have a new mystery to solve.  Sabrina continues working to find which Everafter is holding her parents captive. She becomes increasingly angry and distrustful of every fairy-tale resident.  Her anger takes center stage in this book and fuels the fire of the villains.  Literally.

I find I have much to say about this book, but if I say it all, I may reach epic levels.  The good:  pictures, silhouettes at the beginning of each chapter and a fun storyline.  I really do think the ideas behind these books are good.  In the first book I loved all the vocabulary lessons given because the younger sister, Daphne, didn’t understand some words.  This happened much less in this book, which I was sorry about.  I love the magic mirror.  He’s my favorite character.  He shows you what you want if you ask in a rhyme.  He also keeps all the magic “stuff” organized and under lock and key.  There are many things I didn’t like.  I did not like all the name calling and insults.  Do kids really need to hear that?  I especially did not like all the references made about “chubby” kids.  If I were a child who was overweight, or even felt overweight, this book would make me feel bad.  I guess the problem I have is that all the insults and name calling are supposed to be funny but the reality is, words like that do hurt.  Especially when coming from teachers or other role models.

Now, here is something I can totally relate to.  “When one wakes up to find a giant hairy spider crawling on one’s face, one should be allowed to throw a hissy fit.”  (I completely agree with this!)  Next is my favorite line from the book.  “Of course the Big Bad Wolf does yoga, why did I even bother to ask?”