""Whatever is the world coming to?" she said sadly,
and she showed the children to their little beds, the
sheets so white and crisp, the pillows so soft.
They slept as deeply and as soundly as if their food
had been drugged. And it had."
Few writers tell a story the way Neil Gaiman does. I loved this book when I first read it, and am very excited to be sharing it here with you now. The writing is astonishing and memorable from start to finish. I cannot tell you how many times I stopped to reread what I had just read, or how many times I stopped to enter a passage in the journal I keep for copying phrases I never want to forget. Once read, I went right back to read it again!
The storytelling is reflective of what happens when war leads to starvation. In times before this story is told, the woodcutter and his family were a happy group, living a simple life that gave them all they needed. War has changed that. As it gets closer and closer to where they are, there is a very real concern for what will happen to them. They will all starve.
When Hansel hears his mother encouraging her husband to take the children to the forest and leave them there, he is stunned. She suggests that it is better for two of them to die, rather than all four. As happens in most tellings, the children are left in the forest where they meet an old woman who makes them do her bidding, while she plans to fatten Hansel to the point where he will provide the meat she needs. Once Gretel tricks the old woman into getting too close to the oven, she pushes her in and the children are free from her evil ways. They find her treasure and return home where they discover that their mother has died. Their father rejoices upon their return.
Brushed ink illustrations by Lorenzo Mattotti are often alarming, filling every other two-page spread with black shadows and the children as obscure images in small spaces. This is very effective as an accompaniment to this brilliant retelling.
Back matter includes information about the Grimm Brothers and various versions of Hansel and Gretel, as well as astute comments from both author and illustrator to help readers understand the choices they made for their book.
Extraordinary!
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