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

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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.

Hansel And Gretel - Teaching Ideas Hansel And Gretel - Teaching Ideas

I've always wondered why most fairytales are so dark in nature, but after viewing an interview with Neil Gaiman about Hansel and Gretel, I have a new perspective: In the beginning there was a woodcarver and his pretty wife and their two children. Times were good and once in a while the family, though never rich, would get a bite of meat. Then the wars came and the famine. Food became so scarce that the wife persuaded her husband to abandon their children in the woods. The first time he tried to do so he failed. The second time he succeeded. And when Hansel and Gretel, the children in question, spotted that gingerbread cottage with its barley sugar windows and hard candy decorations the rest, as they say, was history. I didn't love this book but I also didn't hate it, it was very average! I would recommend to lovers of Gaimen but would suggest borrowing from a library or seeing it in person first as I felt the price tag was rather high for what it is! 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:This was a nice easy sunny day read, although I am somewhat confused at it being labelled as a "retelling" which it really isn't. 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.

Hansel and Gretel by Neil Gaiman Review of the Day: Hansel and Gretel by Neil Gaiman

I want to award Gaiman's retelling a high rating, but it's not Gaiman's story. He hasn't made it his own like he did by adding a feminist twist to Sleeping Beauty. Sure, it's been reworded, and feels smoother and more eloquent for it, but there isn't any one thing I can definitively point to that sets it apart from the original. For me, the sometimes inarticulate illustrations detracted from the reading experience, as I sat there trying to figure out what exactly I was looking at. I felt they were incongruous and would've been better placed in art book or a gallery wall where I could've appreciated them more. There was nothing earth shattering about this telling, nothing very different from the original, except that in this telling the woodcutter’s wife was the biological mother of the children. Best-selling author Neil Gaiman and fine artist Lorenzo Mattotti join forces to create Hansel & Gretel, a stunning book that’s at once as familiar as a dream and as evocative as a nightmare. Mattotti’s sweeping ink illustrations capture the terror and longing found in the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Gaiman crafts an original text filled with his signature wit and pathos that is sure to become a favorite of readers everywhere, young and old. 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 BreakfastComplement 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. With stark subtlety, Mattotti’s haunting visual interpretation amplifies the atmosphere that Gaiman so elegantly evokes. In this wonderful short video, Gaiman discusses what makes fairy tales endure with legendary graphic storyteller Art Spiegelman and longtime New Yorker art director Françoise Mouly: