Hansel and Gretel: a beautiful illustrated version of the classic fairytale

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In the years that followed, Hansel and Gretel each married well, and the people who went to their weddings ate so much fine food that their belts burst and the fat from the meat ran down their chins, while the pale moon looked down kindly on them all.” Master storyteller Gaiman plumbs the dark depths of Hansel and Gretel… Italian illustrator Mattotti contributes elegant b&w ink spreads that alternate with spreads of text. His artistry flows from the movement of his brush and the play of light and shadow.”— Publishers Weekly , starred review There's so much to sink your teeth into, not to mention the huge library of supporting resources for each new text type. Twist the text and make the same old stories take your learning further. Example guided reading questions for the story include:

Hansel and Gretel - Bloomsbury Publishing

The Brothers Grimm wrote the original fairy tale. Can you find out what other stories they wrote? If you could interview them today, what questions would you like to ask them? No wonder Gaiman is close friends with George R. R. Martin and so defensive of his pal. Both write people who eat like baby pigs and have no chins. Grimms' Hansel and Gretel was published in 1812. Twelve year old Dorothea Wild, known as Dortchen, was the source of the tale. She later became Mrs Wilhelm Grimm in 1825. Maybe I wouldn't be so disappointed if I hadn't read The Sleeper and the Spindle a few weeks ago, that was everything a retelling should be. It brought something new to a already well known story while still being beautifully told and illustrated. Maybe it's unfair to compare the two but as someone who grew up on Grimm's fairy tales, I expected more than the same story with slightly different words, especially considering who wrote them this time.

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I read this because Neil Gaiman adapted the tale the Grimm Brothers got from 12-year-old Dortchen when they were collecting German folk tales. Gaiman I already know is equally successful with children and adult stories, and he works pretty well in the picture book/graphic novel framework, too, of course! This particular version was inspired by the illustrations Lorenzo Mattotti did as part of an exhibit TOON Books' Francoise Mouly curated to celebrate the Metropolitan Opera's 2007 staging of the story. I was interested in it because Gaiman has spoken about the ways the Grimm Tales have gotten cleaned up over the years, lightened so as not to frighten the wee babes. And Gaiman does not like this turn to remove the grimness from Grimm. He is, after all, the author of The Graveyard Book, Coraline and The Ocean at the End of the Lane. He is a champion of horror for the young in all its delicious, jaw-dropping gory details.

Hansel and Gretel by Neil Gaiman, Lorenzo Mattotti - Waterstones Hansel and Gretel by Neil Gaiman, Lorenzo Mattotti - Waterstones

Imagine that you were standing in front of the house made of sweets. What can you see / smell / touch / hear / taste? Think of lots of different words to describe your different senses.

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But if you already know the tale, there is nothing new about this. I wouldn't even really call it a retelling as there is just too little about the same story that can be found in hundrets of books already published years ago. I missed the Gaiman-touch a lot. The magic he usually brings to stories. You could find bits and pieces, small hints of something interesting in this book (like the mention of a war devasting the country or the old woman promising Gretel to teach her magic) but it never really led anywhere. There were no unforseen twists, no surprises at all. It didn't feel like it was written by Neil Gaiman at all, apart from the beauty of the words themselves. Complement it with Gaiman on why scary stories appeal to us, Tolkien on the psychology of fairy tales, and the best illustrations of the Brothers Grimm tales. For more of Mattotti’s enchanting art, see his visual interpretation of Edgar Allan Poe.

Hansel and Gretel: a beautiful illustrated version of the

I wasn't a huge fan of the art, and when you aren't a fan of the art for an illustrated novel, the whole thing just falls flat. This version of Hansel & Gretel by Neil Gaiman has to be one of my favorites. I loved that it stays close to the original Grimm version and preserves the chilling details...Be warned, Gaiman doesn't really rework Hansel and Gretel like he did with Sleeping Beauty, he just enlarges on it, adding minor changes along the way. Oddly I enjoyed this story more than any other by Gaiman, which probably tells you more about how much I like, or dislike, his work than anything else.

Hansel and Gretel By Neil Gaiman | New | 9781662665042

Use the speech within the text to create a play script. Could you perform this with some friends or use puppets?I love Gaiman’s and Mattotti’s Hansel & Gretel. The writing is rich. (“They went so deep into the old forest that the sunlight was stained green by the leaves.”) And the art is striking. I have never seen a more chill-inducing rendition of the witch’s gingerbread cottage. I swear it looks like there’s a skull atop it.”— Julie Danielson, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast I think I was just expecting more from the retelling - obviously the main plot line of the story was going to be similar but I just didn't get the feeling I get when reading Gaiman's other novels. I think I would gave enjoyed it more if the story had just been darker or had something else to give it that extra spark - I did enjoy it but it wasn't amazing. I downright hated this retelling, and not just because it's boringly the same as the original fairy tale. Just wordier and with little changes that don't make much sense. For example, why is the stepmother changed to the mother? And why is she punished but not the father who actually carried out the deed twice? Why does the witch drug the kids? None of that is in the fairy tale. The pebbles that Hansel drops shine in the moonlight. Why do things shine / reflect light? Can you think of other reflective materials that might be able to help the children find their way home?