Morpurgo, M. (2008). Hansel and Gretel. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.
Brief Annotation: This is an extended version of the original story. The story begins with extreme happiness. Hansel and Gretel have two wonderful parents, and a happy and healthy life. A jealous witch, who craves love, sets out to take the place of the mother. The main difference in this story is that it is not a parent of the two children that decided to do the despicable act of leaving the children in the woods, but rather a witch in disguise.
Grade Level: 3-6
Readers who will like this: Readers who enjoy happy ending, and detailed telling of events would like this book
Response/Rating (1-4): 2. I felt like the story of two brave children who found their way through the unthinkable was masked. The courageous ideas that the kids have in the original story are not their ideas in this story; the ideas are their fathers. Therefore this interpretations isn’t as much about brave kids, it’s about a fathers love, family and trickery by a jealous outsider. It was however an interesting, however long, interpretation of the classic story.
One question you would ask before a read aloud: Why would someone want to be someone else?
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