The Grimoire of Forgotten Fairytales: A Sinister Collection of Forgotten Rhymes, Folklore and Fae

by William Moore, Bethany Clark (Illustrator)

"The longer I looked, the more disorienting it became."

Step beyond the veil of the ordinary and into a realm where fairytales are not as they seem. 'The Grimoire of Forgotten Fairytales' beckons you into a world of eldritch lore and enigmatic verses. From twisted nursery rhymes to cryptic riddles, each minute is a key to a door yet unopened, a path yet untraveled. Will you heed the whispers of forgotten tales and unlock the secrets that lie within? Venture forth, if you dare, but some doors, once opened, can never be closed.

The hit book that smashed 200% of its crowdfunding target on Kickstarter based on the viral sketches and rhymes on William Moore's social media channels @williammooremusic has finally come audio.

Journey beyond the familiar into a world where children's tales take on shades darker and more mysterious than you ever imagined.

'The Grimoire of Forgotten Fairytales' is not just a book-it's an experience. Crafted by William Moore, the creative genius behind viral TikTok sketches that have captivated over 100,000 followers, this collection is a testament to the power of storytelling.

Genres: Poetry, Horror

122 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2023

Reviews

[Verónica Fleitas Solich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Words of magical beauty.
This book is like falling into a world of fantasy that surrounds you and enchants you.

[Beth N · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do you ever feel like your nursery rhymes are lacking in cosmic horror? Then this is the book for you. Drawing on the vocabulary and imagery of Victorian Gothic fiction and the kind of eldritch creepiness popularised by HP Lovecraft, the book takes all the popular nursery rhymes you will remember from childhood and gives them new verses with a dark twist. The meter gets a little lost in places but the vibes are solid, and the eerily organic illustrations add to the cosy creepiness.

[Shayna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of rhymes to lull Cthulhu back to dreams.

If you see a penny and pick it up, does it REALLY bring good luck? Or unlock a door to cosmic horrors? Is Old Mother Hubbard’s dog really just a dog? What if he wants to chew on more than just a bone? What happens when the Itsy Bitsy Spider gets pissed off about all that rain?

[EB]

10/18/25 - thought I'd take a look at this eBook (the audiobook is also available in Hoopla but I have a sense that the layout of words will be an important part of the reading/consuming experience) b/c I finished listening to the podcast this eve - "The Grimoire Diaries." I came across the pod in searching Pocketcast for horror stories... Altho I'm not sure I'd classify the pod as 'horror.' Not classic horror, at least. IIRC it's described as 'horror/fantasy' or maybe ' light horror / dark fantasy' and IMO that checks out. It's more creepy - eerie - unsettling - disorienting - than FRIGHTENING. No jump scares, no gratuitous violence, no characters doing patently foolish things. It takes place in more or less *our* world but we quickly discover that there are more creatures and forces operating in our world than we realized. Incl. fairies - hence the 'fantasy' component. At any rate, I liked it a great deal. Not enuf to recommend it to anyone, but enuf to listen to the whole thing and then to be curious abt reading the books it's based on. So perhaps a solid 3 stars? The production was excellent and so was the writing (there was a passage when William was first entering the Bingo hall that was absolutely brilliant - describing the emcee who was calling Bingo numbers - how he had an enormous fake smile, so that all of his teeth were front teeth - so much more eloquent than I've replicated here. I was already planning to listen to the whole story but that line is what got me HOOKED. Respect.) and - important for me - the story was gentle and... again, more unsettling than SCARY. At no point did the story elevate my HR. For example. Anyway. Given how I enjoyed the podcast. I'm eager to see what I think abt the first of the two books. (PS - IIRC the pod writers play a lot of D&D? Which I've never played but I *HAVE* seen "Community" - multiple times - so. In many ways it reads like a D&D campaign. Having a semi-heroic adventure while exploring a new world. Perhaps instead of 'heroic' what I mean is 'character-building.')

UPDATE 10/28/25 - I finally had a chance to dive into this story. (It's been tricky b/c I have to read *in* Hoopla which is bot my favorite e-reading platform.) It's not what I had hoped for☹️The parts I "paged" thru are just rhymes and pictures. Not story. I *really* liked the podcast but feel less interested in this. Giving it a miss. Not b/c it's bad but just b/c it's not doing it for me.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

This fun little book is an exercise in rewriting old lymrics, poems, rhymes, and riddles and weaving a bit of a horror aspect into them.
There's a bit of witchy spells, a bit of lovecraftian eldritch, a bit of Robert E. Howard ancient tombs, and more. As an avid horror reader, the inspirations are apparent and entertaining.

It's a quick read and probably best experienced taken in little nibbles. A poem per opening, perhaps. There is no sequential content and each entry is anthological. As such rereading each may serve to savor the little enjoyable bits more fully.

Some of the pieces feel a bit more forced than others, but nothing really juts out as obliquely badly done. There is enough variance inside that you will likely find a few you quite like and others that weren't for you.

With all that said there is little here that really sets itself above and beyond in any particular way. It's enjoyable for what it is. Fulfilling in small bites of assorted horror-y bits and bobs.

[Ash · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decently written book, but honestly not my cup of tea. I love fairy tales and poems, but some of these aren't appealing in the way of spells. Some are stretched out to change them into more of horror thing and I think that's great, but I couldn't get into and found the task reading them tedious. Also I was annoyed with the riddles since I couldn't find any answer to them.
Favorite poem had to be the redo of the One for Sorrow. Very well done, if you like reading things about horror and poetry this book might be for you.

[Baylor Wetzel · Rating 2 out of 5]

A short book where each page is a nursery rhyme when the author adds a few extra lines. The lines are generic, pretentious attempts at being scary in a vague, abstract way. Example:

Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard
To give the poor dog a bone
...
In the dead of the night
Under the faint moonlight
The dog began to morph and distort
No longer a hound
But a beast unbound
In this harrowing, special sport

That's one of the better ones. Maybe this is a poetry book for kids? If so, even as a kid i think i would have found this pretty lame.

[Em · Rating 1 out of 5]

You could not pay me to read this again. The rhyme schemes are poorly constructed and often break from the borrowed text which ruins the idea of playing on the familiarity of these stories. The narrative that Moore tries to construct throughout the book is vaguely like if House of Leaves was written by H.P. Lovecraft but if Lovecraft didn't know what a thesaurus was. There are so many ideas here but they truly go absolutely nowhere.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhere between tongue in cheek and madness on a Lovecraftian scale, these retelling of nursery rhymes exist. With a compelling framing device of being a scholarly study of forgotten elements of rhymes we all know where the scholar doing the work mysteriously disappeared, it tells a compelling story around the rhymes and is just what fans of Lovecraft, Poe, or others such staples will enjoy. I had a lot of fun with this one and will be exploring the books which follow.

[Kacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this during a power outage, and it was the perfect vibes. This would probably be a 4 star read in a normal daylight setting, but the rhythm of verse plus the quiet, dark night, reading by candlelight, elevated this book to a six star read. The art really adds to the experience as well. I felt fully immersed in a world of ancient mystery and terror.

[Samaire Wynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! The poetry is fantastic, and the rhymes are so powerful. I adore Mr. Moore's Tik Tok, so I bought his book, and I was not disappointed. I hope he writes more books, he's very talented⚡️

[Paulette Illmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

A creative twist to many nursery rhymes, leading you down a dark path toward supernatural terrors. Original pieces are equally dark and mysterious. Loved the one in the middle of the book that you have to read with a mirror.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Skye · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars, rounded up

It's aight, but it got old fast. I think it does as good a job as it can keeping things interesting, though, by changing up the format of the entries every so often.

[Wen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a fast read with good illustrations.

[Abby Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

more like a 2.5 but not bad just very repetitive

[Charles Friedmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well done.

This is a fun read, and yet beware... In the light of day such words thrill and entertain.
In the night however new perspectives are obtained, unexpected meanings found. ......