Can you create some puppets of the main characters in the story and use these to retell it to an audience? A retelling of this famous, dark fairytale from award-winning author-illustrator Anthony Browne. Hansel and Gretel is perhaps the darkest and greatest of the fairytales from the Brothers Grimm. This extraordinary book brings the classic childhood tale to a new generation courtesy of one of the world's greatest picture book artists, Hans Christian Andersen Award-winner Anthony Browne. About This Edition ISBN: She is not a good housewife (when the implication is that a good housewife is also a good mother, and that being a good housekeeper is the job of the woman.

Billy worries about so many things, like hats and rain and giant birds, that it keeps him awake at night. His Grandma comes up with an ideal solution - worry dolls to do Billy's worrying for him. Soon Billy is able to use his own resourcefulness to overcome his problem. This simple story from a former Children's Laureate is beautifully told and will reassure… The Grimm brothers rewrote and refined their version of the tale before it was published in 1857. It bears little resemblance to the original oral tale told to Wilhelm in 1810. While the mother figure is clearly demonized in this story, the father’s involvement in abandoning his children is carefully downplayed. from Carolyn Daniel’s book Voracious Children: Who eats whom in children’s literatureAnthony Browne's Hansel and Gretel, adapted from the translation by Eleanor Quarrie, has a distinctly contemporary feel. This is enhanced by the humorous illustrations: the woodcutter, for example, has a television set in his home, and the cruel stepmother, trips daintily along in high heels and a striking yellow coat, a cigarette hanging from her mouth. These help to bring a lighter note to this otherwise traditionally dark tale.

Nodelman then mentions the art of Tim Burton, which has been replicated by subsequent animators in films such as Paranorman. Frames-Every illustration is framed in a rectangular frame and interestingly, on each double spread there is a small framed image and a larger framed one. These illustrations seem to support and complement each other. Carry out role-play activities linked to the story, e.g. hot seating / interviewing characters from the story. How are they feeling at particular points, or ‘Conscience Corridor’ activities – should Hansel and Gretel go into the gingerbread house?The classic tale of the two children abandoned by their parents in the forest, and their frightening encounter encounter with an evil witch, has lost none of its popularity over the years. If you enjoy Lorenzo Mattotti’s illustrations for Hansel and Gretel, you may also enjoy illustrations by Savva Brodsky. Savva Brodsky Illustrations for short stories by Alexander Grin, 1960s

I did enjoy this story and found it evoked some very strong emotions. It is certainly worth reading to Key stage one or two children and would be a very good stimulus for a PSHE lessons on keeping safe, responsibilities and wellbeing. It would also provide plenty of opportunities for a philosophy for children lesson. Shameless plug: Compare with our own retelling of a classic fairytale, Lotta: Red Riding Hood. Of course, there are many other modern retellings of fairytales, and like ours, many of them are written for young adults and above, as were the original tales. (I mean pre-Grimm. The Grimm brothers needed to raise money, so published old tales as children’s stories, because children’s stories are what sold.) WRITE YOUR OWN A review of Hansel and Gretel using the picture codes to enhance the story and meaning of the illustrations.The Red Shoes” is a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, so not of the Grimm variety, but ‘fairytale’ enough for readers to get the possible meaning in the picture above, in which red shoes sit next to the mirrored wardrobe door. Anthony Browne, a Hans Christian Andersen Medalist, is the author-illustrator of many acclaimed books for children, including Silly Billy and Little Beauty. He lives in Kent, England. Little Red Riding Hood also has cannibalistic elements which are sometimes sanitised. This tale is pretty much the only European tale in which a good — a good girl no less — is involved in cannibalism.