Can you create some puppets of the main characters in the story and use these to retell it to an audience? Anthony 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.

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.

My kid does not like the Anthony Browne version of Hansel and Gretel. For them it is too scary. They don’t like the dark version illustrated by Lorenzo Mattoti, either, preferring the cheap Ladybird edition with its brighter colours. This might explain why many illustrators of Hansel and Gretel — and there have been many — are not interested in what the story is really about, because the original is just too horrible. In 2000 Browne was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, an international award given to an illustrator for their body of work. This prize is the highest honour a children's writer or illustrator can win and Browne was the first British illustrator to receive the award.

Browne and writer Annalena McAfee won the 1985 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis, Picture Book category, for Mein Papi, nur meiner! (The Visitors Who Came to Stay). He also won the Kurt Maschler Award "Emil" three times, which annually (1982 to 1999) recognised one British "work of imagination for children, in which text and illustration are integrated so that each enhances and balances the other." [15] Browne was a winner for Gorilla (Julia MacRae Books, 1983), Alice's Adventure in Wonderland (MacRae, 1988) and Voices in the Park (Doubleday, 1998), as the illustrator of all three books and the writer of two. [15] Browne, Anthony". Original artwork from children's book illustrators. Images of Delight. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007 . Retrieved 26 December 2007. In 2001–2002 Browne took a job as writer and illustrator at Tate Britain, working with children using art as a stimulus to inspire visual literacy and creative writing activities. It was during this time that Browne conceived and produced The Shape Game (Doubleday, 2003).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 Armistice Day: A Collection of Remembrance - Spark Interest and Educate Children about Historical Moments Jane Doonan, "The object lesson: picture books of Anthony Browne", Word & Image 2:2 (1986 April–June), pp.159–72. LoveReading4Kids exists because books change lives, and buying books through LoveReading4Kids means you get to change the lives of future generations, with 25% of the cover price donated to schools in need. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives. Watch different retellings of the story. How are they similar / different? Which do you prefer? Here is one example:

Hello Yellow - 80 Books to Help Children Nurture Good Mental Health and Support With Anxiety and Wellbeing - 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. 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. We have also been thinking about voicing our ideas through a debate. We have split into Team Hansel and Team Gretel to debate and decide which character can be regarded as the ultimate hero of the story. We evaluate arguments for and against each character using evidence from the text. Children then presented their debate and made their own decision. On 9 June 2009 he was appointed the sixth Children's Laureate (2009–2011), selected by a panel that former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion chaired. [5]That women who are over-the-top feminine — look at all the feminine accoutrements, signified by the colour pink — are over-the-top vain. The mirror adds to the impression of vanity, and we will subconsciously conjure up Snow White and the magic mirror in that tale. Anthony Browne has often illustrated Hansel and Gretel to be looking away from the reader, this allows the reader to experience what the characters are feeling and put their emotions in the place of the characters.

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. Use the speech within the text to create a play script. Could you perform this with some friends or use puppets? The old woman in the house is ‘as old as the hills’. Can you think of other similes to describe her / the other characters in the story?A review of Hansel and Gretel using the picture codes to enhance the story and meaning of the illustrations. Imagine that you were taken into a forest. What is it like? How would you describe it?? (see Resources below) The opponent was originally a mother, not a stepmother. The Grimm brothers obviously thought that having your blood mother turn on you was too scary. They did retain the shortened form of ‘mother’ in some passages though. Let’s face it: The tale itself is basically terrifying. Anthony Browne, with his postmodern approach to its retelling, does not shy away from the terror. Later, Neil Gaiman and Lorenzo Matotti created an even darker version.