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Hansel and Diesel
"Guzzle, guzzle, drip and drool, who is drinking all my fuel?" When Hansel and Diesel set out to search for fuel in their junkyard, they leave a path of nuts and bolts behind to show their way home. But when snow falls and they get lost, brother and sister truck have to fight the Wicked Winch all by themselves -- until their parents find the trail in the melting snow. David Gordon's twist on the traditional Brothers Grimm tale shows the importance of family and caring for those you love.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2006
1 person is currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
David Gordon
30 books6 followersDavid Gordon has done visual development for numerous production companies from Lucasfilm to Pixar, including Toy Story; Monsters, Inc.; A Bug’s Life; Cars; BlueSky’s Robots; and Nickelodeon’s Spongebob Squarepants. He’s also written and illustrated several picture books, among them Hansel and Diesel, The Three Little Rigs, The Ugly Truckling, and Smitten. He’s one of the illustrators of Jon Scieszka’s fifty-two-book, New York Times bestselling series, Trucktown. Visit him at IllustratorRanch.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
January 18, 2016
At the edge of a huge junkyard lived brother and sister pickup trucks. Their names were Hansel and Diesel.
I was utterly charmed by this automotive twist on the classic fairy tale.
http://www.illustrationranch.com/wp-c...
When fuel runs low and the family doesn't know if they'll make it through the winter, the children trucks decide to go out and look for fuel. But Hansel, afraid of getting lost, brings a bucket of bolts on his truck bed.
Early the next morning, the young trucks travel deeper and deeper into the junkyard.
It starts snowing, and Hansel's trail of bolts is covered up. This is one of the most amazing pictures, in which the two pickup trucks are dwarfed by snowy towers of tires.
But at nighttime, the twochildren trucks see brightly colored lights, shiny gas pumps, huge tanks full of fuel, and piles and piles of brand-new tires. It was the most beautiful gas station they could have imagined, and it was right in the middle of the junkyard!
This is no candy house, but Gordon creates a gas station where the pumps are candy-striped, the tires look a bit like doughnuts, and the spark plugs look a bit like soft-serve ice cream.
Hansel and Diesel were cold and very hungry. They drank deeply from the warm fuel tanks.
Then they heard a voice say, "Guzzle, guzzle, drip and drool, who is drinking all my fuel?"
And a little old winch came out from inside the gas station.
"Poor little trucks," she said. "There's plenty more. Why don't you follow me into the garage?"
Ah, I'm tickled pink by this anthropomorphic winch taking the place of the evil witch.
A real winch: http://motoalliance.com/vol_user/uplo...
The winch gives thechildren trucks some warm oil and then puts them to sleep on her lifts. This makes a cute picture of them falling asleep high up on lifts in a very well-cared-for and neat garage.
But that night, the kids awaken to a horrible noise! The are going to be shredded! We see terrifying blades come down from the ceiling and up from the floor!
Diesel moved fast. Hansel moved even faster. They revved their engines and crashed through the glass of the garage door, flying over the winch, who was laughing out loud. "You Wicked Winch!" they yelled.
I'm cracking up here. This book is too cute.
The wicked winch captures them with her cable. Meanwhile, the trucks' worried parents start a search, and find Hansel's bolt trail.
When Hansel and Diesel's father see the winch pulling the children into the shredder, he goes all papa bear and murders the winch.
Their father's powerful engine roared as he rushed up the the Wicked Winch and met her face-to-face.
Slowly he pushed her back into her garage of doom [GARAGE OF DOOM! *Carmen is cackling delightedly*] , where she was shredded into a thousand tiny scraps of metal.
"Yay!" cried Hansel and Diesel.
"Don't you ever leave home and scare us like that again!" said their father.
I'm not sure why this has to be such a manly thing. (And it really is a macho scene and illustration.) Why is the dad doing all the talking, killing and protecting, while the mom-truck is just standing on the sidelines, like, "I'm going to just let my man take care of business"? Wouldn't she (huge and powerful, just like daddy) be able to say some intimidating things and do some damage as well? I'm just not sure about this gender-posturing when we're talking about trucks, here.
Anyway, my feminist ranting aside, the family moves into the beautiful, colorful gas station and lives happily ever after. THE END.
...
PLUSES:
- Adorable idea. A wicked winch! A rainbow gas-station instead of a candy house! The pickup truck children swinging on truck-swings! Just adorable and clever.
- Great, fun, colorful illustrations. They are scary and dark when scary dark things are happening, and bright and cheerful when good things are happening.
http://www.illustrationranch.com/wp-c...
- Cute writing, cute take on the fairy tale. Gordon neatly sidesteps the "evil stepmom wants to leave the children in the woods to die" angle, giving thechildren trucks two loving parents.
- Will teach children a few automotive terms in an easy, fun, memorable way.
- Gordon even includes little touches like books titled, "The Ugly Truckling" and "The Three Little Rigs" scattered around Hansel and Diesel's room.
- Everyone loved it, even the little girls loved it. Definitely not a "boy book," even though it focuses heavily on automotive life, which is typically gendered to males. No need to fear girls won't be interested in this, I read to some very picky girls and they actually loved this. And I think planting the seeds of some future female mechanics is very good and also important. Everyone, male or female, should know automotive basics like how to change the oil, change a tire, etc. etc. (Unless you live in the city and don't even drive.)
MINUSES:
- Very strange highly macho ending where the daddy truck did all the talking, all the killing, and all the defending while the mom and kids just looked on proudly.
Tl;dr - Utterly charming and cute. A hit with both boys and girls. Highly recommended.
Ages 0-6
I was utterly charmed by this automotive twist on the classic fairy tale.
http://www.illustrationranch.com/wp-c...
When fuel runs low and the family doesn't know if they'll make it through the winter, the children trucks decide to go out and look for fuel. But Hansel, afraid of getting lost, brings a bucket of bolts on his truck bed.
Early the next morning, the young trucks travel deeper and deeper into the junkyard.
It starts snowing, and Hansel's trail of bolts is covered up. This is one of the most amazing pictures, in which the two pickup trucks are dwarfed by snowy towers of tires.
But at nighttime, the two
This is no candy house, but Gordon creates a gas station where the pumps are candy-striped, the tires look a bit like doughnuts, and the spark plugs look a bit like soft-serve ice cream.
Hansel and Diesel were cold and very hungry. They drank deeply from the warm fuel tanks.
Then they heard a voice say, "Guzzle, guzzle, drip and drool, who is drinking all my fuel?"
And a little old winch came out from inside the gas station.
"Poor little trucks," she said. "There's plenty more. Why don't you follow me into the garage?"
Ah, I'm tickled pink by this anthropomorphic winch taking the place of the evil witch.
A real winch: http://motoalliance.com/vol_user/uplo...
The winch gives the
But that night, the kids awaken to a horrible noise! The are going to be shredded! We see terrifying blades come down from the ceiling and up from the floor!
Diesel moved fast. Hansel moved even faster. They revved their engines and crashed through the glass of the garage door, flying over the winch, who was laughing out loud. "You Wicked Winch!" they yelled.
I'm cracking up here. This book is too cute.
The wicked winch captures them with her cable. Meanwhile, the trucks' worried parents start a search, and find Hansel's bolt trail.
When Hansel and Diesel's father see the winch pulling the children into the shredder, he goes all papa bear and murders the winch.
Their father's powerful engine roared as he rushed up the the Wicked Winch and met her face-to-face.
Slowly he pushed her back into her garage of doom [GARAGE OF DOOM! *Carmen is cackling delightedly*] , where she was shredded into a thousand tiny scraps of metal.
"Yay!" cried Hansel and Diesel.
"Don't you ever leave home and scare us like that again!" said their father.
I'm not sure why this has to be such a manly thing. (And it really is a macho scene and illustration.) Why is the dad doing all the talking, killing and protecting, while the mom-truck is just standing on the sidelines, like, "I'm going to just let my man take care of business"? Wouldn't she (huge and powerful, just like daddy) be able to say some intimidating things and do some damage as well? I'm just not sure about this gender-posturing when we're talking about trucks, here.
Anyway, my feminist ranting aside, the family moves into the beautiful, colorful gas station and lives happily ever after. THE END.
...
PLUSES:
- Adorable idea. A wicked winch! A rainbow gas-station instead of a candy house! The pickup truck children swinging on truck-swings! Just adorable and clever.
- Great, fun, colorful illustrations. They are scary and dark when scary dark things are happening, and bright and cheerful when good things are happening.
http://www.illustrationranch.com/wp-c...
- Cute writing, cute take on the fairy tale. Gordon neatly sidesteps the "evil stepmom wants to leave the children in the woods to die" angle, giving the
- Will teach children a few automotive terms in an easy, fun, memorable way.
- Gordon even includes little touches like books titled, "The Ugly Truckling" and "The Three Little Rigs" scattered around Hansel and Diesel's room.
- Everyone loved it, even the little girls loved it. Definitely not a "boy book," even though it focuses heavily on automotive life, which is typically gendered to males. No need to fear girls won't be interested in this, I read to some very picky girls and they actually loved this. And I think planting the seeds of some future female mechanics is very good and also important. Everyone, male or female, should know automotive basics like how to change the oil, change a tire, etc. etc. (Unless you live in the city and don't even drive.)
MINUSES:
- Very strange highly macho ending where the daddy truck did all the talking, all the killing, and all the defending while the mom and kids just looked on proudly.
Tl;dr - Utterly charming and cute. A hit with both boys and girls. Highly recommended.
Ages 0-6
March 15, 2012
Ok, three words: The Wicked Winch.
Ok, more words: The kids loved it. I thought it was cute (although I liked The Three Little Rigs a little more), and there was some clever illustrating going on on some of the pages. My nephew especially got a huge kick out of the illustrations, and I really enjoyed watching him discover the surprises in some of the pictures. Another fun story from David Gordon.
Ok, more words: The kids loved it. I thought it was cute (although I liked The Three Little Rigs a little more), and there was some clever illustrating going on on some of the pages. My nephew especially got a huge kick out of the illustrations, and I really enjoyed watching him discover the surprises in some of the pictures. Another fun story from David Gordon.
July 20, 2007
It's Hansel and Gretel, but with trucks. A wicked winch instead of a wicked witch.
Seriously, this is all different kinds of awesome.
Seriously, this is all different kinds of awesome.
July 6, 2009
This is such a clever take on such an old story. Both of my kids ate this up! Very imaginative and cute. Very wonderful illustrations as well. A perfect delight!
February 5, 2018
Awesome fractured tale of Hansel and Gretel. Hansel and Diesel are two little trucks who overhear their parents talking about how they may not have fuel for the winter, decide to go look for some fuel. While searching Hansel decided to leave bolts behind so they can fide their way home. They travel a distance and they find a Gas Station that had bright colored lights, shiny gas pumps, hughe tanks full of fuel, and piles of brand new tires, and Hansel and Diesel could no resist. They were so full and tired so the wicked Winch told them to sleep on the lifts. When they woke up they saw huge screaming saw blades on the floor and the ceiling they were going to be shredded. Guess what happens next.
May 1, 2013
My little boy loves cars and will bring home any book from the library with a car on the cover. This week it was "Hansel and Diesel". Most children's books about cars are rather poorly written, but this one had the creative premise of being "Hansel and Gretel" recast with car characters, and it seemed promising. Unfortunately, rather than being a cute car story this reads more like a horror story. "In the middle of the night, Hansel and Diesel were awakened by a horrible noise. The garage door was closing! Huge, screaming saw blades appeared on the floor and on the ceiling. Hansel and Diesel were going to be shredded!" Seriously?! I find this disturbing. My little boy is four years old. Is this the kind of stuff he needs to be reading? How does this kind of children's literature even get published? The horror continues as the little trucks get trapped in the Wicked Winch's cable as they try to escape and the parents hear "horrendous honks of terror". I suppose it does have a happy ending as the Wicked Winch is "pushed back into her garage of doom, where she was shredded into a thousand tiny scraps of metal." Ugh! This book bothers me so much I wrote this review to complain and hopefully spare some of you who may happen upon it.
July 12, 2013
I rashly assumed I wouldn't like this one when it first came home from the library. Hansel and Gretel as two big-rig trucks: I thought it sounded ridiculous. Surprising to me, I found it to be a sweet story about two siblings (yes, trucks) who go out in the junkyard to search for fuel for their family. This is no tale of child abandonment, but of siblings on a quest where they encounter and find a gas station, but also the Wicked Winch. Their worried parents search for them when they don't arrive home before dark and the tale ends happily. Even though I'm not usually one who thinks the dark themes of old fairy tales should be whitewashed for today's children, I found myself satisfied with these changes, where the children were still resourceful but had loving parents. Perhaps a functional family can improve the old story of Hansel and Gretel.
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October 20, 2009This book is a very original spin of the tail of Hansel and Gretel. In this story the main characters are trucks and they are in search of fuel so they wonder though the junk yard in search of it. They leave a trail of bolts along the way only for them to be covered with snow. They get captured by the Wicked Winch until their parents find the bolt trail when the snow melts. It is much different but yet somewhat the same as the original tale. It is a lot of fun to read and discover a new form of the original tale I grew up with. It’s great how imaginative the author is at working the auto theme into this classic tale.
November 20, 2009
A retake on the Hansel and Gretel folktale… with trucks! Hansel and Diesel go off in search of fuel, leaving a trail of nuts and bolts. As they wander deeper into the junkyard they run into the wicked winch and must escape! This could be a great story to incorporate props, or make a flannel board for. Another great story to get the boys involved.
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October 2, 2007My little girl is a big time car lover. This is a great twist on the classic Hansel and Gretal. Instead of two kids being left in the woods, this story is about 2 trucks in the junk yard in search for diesel. A very cute book that my 2 year old loved.
October 22, 2011
Same as the last one. Cute enough if you can get your hands on it ... but not so great that you need to make a big deal out of tracking it down. Fractured fairy tale with trucks and cars. Good for compare and contrast.
December 30, 2014
A great version of the old Hansel and Gretel. This one is not quite as scary for the younger kids and was an huge hit with the boys especially, who get tired of all the princess fairy tales. Great job! Loved the illustrations as well.
August 20, 2008
By the title you can tell this is a take on Hansel and Gretel, and is perfect for little boys. It is one of our favorites.
June 19, 2009
Hansel and Diesel was a very cute children's book; not too long, not too short. It's a good play off of a familiar tale, probably geared toward boys interested in "vroom vroom" cars.
November 24, 2009
Clever and fun little truck-rendition of Hansel and Gretel as two little trucks venture into the forbidden junkyard which lies just beyond their garage.
October 8, 2010
Cute story--both of my daughters enjoyed it. Of course, I did have to read Hansel and Gretel to them so they would understand the original story.
May 9, 2018
Oh! This is SO FUN to share at a library pre-school story time.
May 2, 2014
Cute spin on the classic tale.
March 4, 2015
My son loved this one. Me, not so much, but it was a clever retelling. The art was also really enjoyable.
September 29, 2015
Somewhat disturbing book in the way all the best fairy tales should be. I laughed out loud when the wicked winch appeared.
June 5, 2014
I liked this take on the Hansel and Gretel story
July 1, 2019
This story is a twist on the fairytale of Hansel and Gretel, but instead of people they are cars. Hansel and Diesel are brother-sister trucks. They live in a junkyard and are looking for fuel. They leave a track of nuts and bolts to find their way back home. In their looking for fuel, it starts to snow, which covers up their path to return home. Hansel and Diesel have to fight off the evil Wicked Winch, who tricks them into coming into his garage to escape the snow. Hansel and Diesel escape before they are crushed to pieces, Winch runs after them. As Winch is bringing them closer to crush them, Hansel and Diesel's parents find them and teach Winch a lesson.
May 13, 2017
2* art
2* story
2* story
September 17, 2019
A hilarious twist on a classic tale.
May 3, 2016
This was a bit of an odd adaptation of the Hansel and Gretel story, with two trucks named Hansel and Diesel. They are out of fuel and stumble into the junkyard surrounding their house. Soon they are lured to a gas stop by the Wicked Winch who nearly captures them, until they are saved at the last minute by their parents who get rid of the Winch and set up shop at the gas station. Recommended for ages 4-7, 3 stars.
March 6, 2016
The traditional Hansel and Gretel story retold with trucks! No wicked witch here -- instead we have a Wicked Winch! Can Hansel and Diesel escape from her clutches? Will the bucket of bolts, sprinkled like breadcrumbs, lead them back home? Cute story for the four and up crowd! There's even a nod to some of Gordon's other books.
September 20, 2016
Hansel and Diesel, by David Gordon, works with a simple recipe for delight: two kiddo Trucks leave a trail of shiny bolts instead of bread crumbs...
By the time they arrive at a towering gas station, we know they're in some trouble, and the wicked Winch is the menace they must face head on. Involving illustrations make this reimagining worthwhile.
By the time they arrive at a towering gas station, we know they're in some trouble, and the wicked Winch is the menace they must face head on. Involving illustrations make this reimagining worthwhile.
July 23, 2008
Again, a cute spoof
Currently reading
November 11, 2009I like it because they go get some fuel but they almost get crushed up by the winch. But the winch gets crushed up because she was bad.
March 3, 2010
Great new take on an old story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews