This is the kind of book that makes me wish I hadn't already given out so many 5-star ratings. Because of that, I need to give this one seven stars. I just spent a whole week reading nothing else, and it's still living in my head days later. Not for everyone -- a strange and dark and twisted grownup fairytale that falls somewhere between "The Book of Lost Things" and the darkest Francesca Lia Block. It was published as an adult novel in Australia, and I can see why. I haven't applied myself to reading Printz contenders this year, but I'd put this one in the running. More thoughts coming soon. 
 In case anyone is as fixated on this as me, I found an interview with Margo Lanagan which gives some very interesting background on her view of the Grimms' version (Snow White and Rose Red), and the changes she made: 
 http://www.randomhouse.com/teachers/l... 
 "But the main purpose of it all, I think, is to prompt people to wonder: If a personal heaven had been offered to me at the age of 15, how would my deepest wishes have constructed that heaven? And how would that satisfy me now, now that I've moved on from being 15?" 
 "Yes, all the men's stories are presented in first person, all the women's in third. I wanted to make a subtle point about how the men are comfortable imagining themselves as the heroes of their own story, whereas the women always feel themselves to be part of a bigger story that is more significant than their own lives. They see themselves as acted upon, rather than choosing the direction of their own lives."