Grump: The (Fairly) True Tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

Liesl Shurtliff's Grump: The (Fairly) True Tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves is a funny fairy-tale twist for 10 year olds, told by the grumpiest dwarf of them all.

What happens

Borlen is a dwarf with a problem. Dwarves are meant to love the deep, dark depths, where they mine gems and eat them for dinner (diamonds for strength, rubies if you're lucky). But Borlen was born just below the surface by accident. Now going deep makes him dizzy and sick, and all he really wants is to go UP.

He's desperate to see the sky, the sun, trees and, most of all, humans. According to the old records, humans are born without teeth and wear gems on their heads. Imagine wearing your dinner as a hat! His parents are horrified. Humans are dangerous, they tell him, and one might grab him by the beard.

So Borlen grows up as the odd one out. The other dwarflings never let him play, except as their Seventh, the one who picks up everyone's rubble. When his parents arrange for him to join a mining crew in the very deepest tunnel, guess what job he gets? He's the Seventh again. And the crew includes the dwarfling who made his life a misery in the nursery mines.

Lots of readers will have met Snow White as a sweet girl with seven jolly helpers. This is the story from the other side, and Borlen's version is much more fun. He's grumpy, sulky and sometimes a bit mean, but it's easy to see why. Nobody's ever really listened to him.

The dwarf world is so inventive. There are glowfish that light the tunnels, baby dragons that eat coal, a pet bat called Leaf and a lullaby about a lonely dwarf that'll tug at your heart. The fairy tale everyone knows is waiting for him up on the surface, with Snow White and the wicked queen.

If you've got a reader who's ever felt like the odd one out, or who loves hearing a well-known story from a very different angle, this is a real treat.

What to read next

For another of Liesl Shurtliff's fairy tales told by the one nobody listened to, try Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin. Rump is a boy with half a name who finds out he can spin straw into gold.