1812, the brothers Grimm released their first issue of German "Children's and house tales" and wrote down their collected stories on many hundred pages. 200 years later, Italian artist Fabian Negrin follows their footsteps, but narrates in a more contemporary way - in 160 characters. Thus he takes on a linguistic experiment, curt and fascinating, connecting modern form and traditional content. And it sounds like that:

Who is the most beautiful in the country? The mirror was silent. Talk to me! Silence. Break it! The hangman broke the mirror and the queen burst into 1000 pieces.

Minimalist papercut illustrations in black and one color, also by Negrin, accompany the text perfectly.

Those who feel inspired by Negrin's linguistic experiment can be creative themselves and send their own fairytale in 160 characters as an SMS to the publisher. As a bonus, they get a 14th fairytale sent back to their cellphone. We will present the most inventive tales on our German website. Additionally, all readers can share their stories and read what others wrote on Facebook: www.facebook.com/smsMaerchen.

Chosen for the children's & juvenile literature list spring 2012 by MDR, SR and Radio Bremen.

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