To save the football team, Basil Beedon is roped into listening to reluctant reader and star footballer Terry Clegg read fairytales out loud. Every. Single. Saturday.

But when Terry brings over a battered copy of The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm and haltingly begins reading Hansel and Gretel, the pair find themselves transported inside the book, having fallen through a plot hole.

They meet Gretel, who can't stop crying, but only because she "is written that way," and endeavor to help find Hansel (who is stuck in a bottle). The bureaucratic world is run by FANCY (the Fairytale Alliance Network of Character Yunions), where Gretel is part of the subset SUPER FANCY (Stereotypical Unempowered Princesses and Extraneous Royalty). She and the boys are accused of breaching SLIP and SLIDE (Safety Laws of Interworld Portals/ Secrecy Laws of Interworld Demystification Experiences). Using a combination of Basil's bookishness and Terry's sporting skills, the boys must outwit their opponents, as Basil realizes he has always underestimated princesses, and Terry realizes that books are growing on him!