Nancy Ekholm Burkert

I'd never heard of the Grimm brothers version of Snow White, I grew up only knowing the Disney version. I liked the Disney version better, in this one I thought Snow White was really dumb. Unlike in the Disney version, she let her stepmother fool her THREE times, and almost kill her each time. Honestly at that point it's natural selection, I was shocked that she didn't die forever in this story. I thought the differences between the two were interesting, and I really enjoyed thinking of all of the similarities and differences while reading the book.… (mere)

This picture book wasn’t the Snow White Version I was expecting or used to hearing. On page 3, the queen hires a hitman for her 7 year old step daughter and demands the lung and liver as proof. He lets the girl go and gives the queen instead the lung and liver of a boar, which the queen then eats. Thinking’s it’s her step daughter’s lung and liver, she eats it with enjoyment. That kind of blew me away. Snow White is also not poisoned by an apple right away, but instead the queen disguised herself as an old lady and laces snow whites girdle so tight, she faints from lack of oxygen. When that doesn’t kill her, she then poisons the apple and gives it to her. And then the story goes pretty much as expected with the prince rescuing her. I’ve noticed a recurring theme in some of these fairy tales is that the mom dies, the step mother shows up, but she’s always “proud, haughty, and jealous” of the step daughters and treat them horribly. And these poor girls seem to always be a serve to to someone. Cinderella and in this story, a 7 year old Snow White is taking care of 7 dwarf men. Then they’re rescued by a prince because they put up with servitude so selflessly. The stories themselves are good, but it just seems like the same plot over and over.… (mere)