Will Moses, one of America’s most beloved folk artists, brings us his charming interpretation of the most enduring of all Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales, Hansel & Gretel. Moses’ playful double-spread paintings, full of exquisite color and details, and his authentic retelling of this classic story will captivate young readers and take them back to a dark, mysterious forest, an enticing gingerbread house, and a terrifying witch. At once beautiful, whimsical, and great fun, Will Moses’ adaptation of Hansel & Gretel is the perfect way to celebrate this ageless and essential fairy tale.
Born and raised here, in Eagle Bridge, New York, Will Moses creates paintings that reflect the quiet beauty of this tiny community nestled close to the Vermont border. Will has created a vivid, delightful miniature world, peopled with villagers who have stepped out of the past to charm us with their simple, everyday pastimes.
As a fourth generation member of the renowned Moses family, painting is a natural tradition for Will, who began painting when he was four years old. Encouraged by his grandfather, a well-known folk painter in his own right, young Will was allowed to experiment freely with paints. Forrest K. Moses was totally committed to self-expression and passed this freedom of spirit along to his young grandson. Stimulated by his grandfather's confident approach, Will developed his own unique style of Americana.
Today, Will continues to carry on the family tradition. Although his style is reminiscent of that of his celebrated great-grandmother, it is more complex and sophisticated.
This is one of my favorite fairy tales from when I was a little one. What makes this one stand out from others is the beautiful illustrations. Super colorful and a keeper.
The drawings in this book gave me the creeps. Also, there is a peculiar two-paged illustration of Hansel and Gretel being left in the woods by their father and stepmother. Now bear in mind that throughout this book we are repeatedly told that this family is STARVING. They are on the brink of starvation, and it is the argument used by the stepmother to convince the father of leaving his beloved children in the woods in the first place. So in the illustration are a large number of LARGE mushrooms within ten feet of the children, who are sitting in front of their cozy fire looking worried. All right, let's suppose these mushrooms were poisonous. Let's look down a little bend in the trees, and we see several not-emaciated deer hopping around. And there's a stream! Who knows what manner of critters might exist in it. Not to mention an entire family of bears, including two chubby cubs. And if the bears are too ferocious to attempt to capture for food, how about that pair of nice, juicy looking rabbits in the foreground!
This picture made me hate this book - the author undermined the whole premise of the story with it. Now all these characters- especially the dad - look like a bunch of idiots! I'm bewildered and annoyed.
Perhaps one of the more serious of Grimm's fairytales, this time rendered with lovely folk art type images, the age old story continues to have the possibility of instilling nightmares into children.
The five major characters are a weak, easily led father, a dominant and abusive step mother, a wicked witch with an appetite for cannibalism, and two children who refuse to stay victimized.
When the last crumb of bread is nearing, the wicked step mother convinces the father to abandon his children in the woods. Hansel finds a way to get he and his sister back home. Once again, they are taken to the woods and left there, perhaps to die.
Finding a gingerbread abode decorated with plentiful candies, the hungry children eat away to their heart's content. When the witch discovers them, she takes them inside. Imprisoning Hansel in a cage, she tries to feed him so he can be plump enough to eat. Gretel continually gives the near blind witch a bone to fool her into believing Hansel is not ready to be devoured.
Pushing the witch into the fire enables the children to be free, and once again to find their way back home. The wicked step mother is dead and the father embraces the children.
I've always struggled with this fairy tale. Women are portrayed as dominant and prone to kill children, while the father is merely noted as helpless and at the mercy of his wife. Why children continue to return repeatedly to the place where they were neglected, is beyond logic.
The children are strong and great problem solvers, while the father is not able to care enough for his children so he can stand up to the step mother.
Problematic at best, this is dark and nasty. I need to understand the Grimm brothers more to see how their minds worked.
Hansel & Gretel by Will Moses is a fairy tale. The age group this is intended for is nursery to intermediate. The book is about a poor family; the step mother scolded the father of Hansel and Gretel until he agreed to leave the two children in the woods because they couldn’t afford to feed all four of them. The brother and sister were hungry and alone in the woods when they found the gingerbread house. They defeated the witch that lived in the house, their step mother had died, and they took the treasure home to their father. I liked that the story was so detailed and the children were so clever and resourceful. It had the good versus evil plot; and good won. The witch and the step mother both die and the children and their father get the witch’s treasure. The illustrations are like oil paintings and look like you are looking through a window at everything unfolding. I think this book would be good for young readers. I think it would good for parents to read to their children and let the children look at the pictures. It’s not for beginner readers, but it could be an enjoyable tale to read on their own when they are a little older too.
Hansel and Gretel are forced to grow up quickly and fend for themselves in the wild. The children are at odds with the stepmother and then the witch. The fate of the children’s lives are at stake constantly throughout the story. The style of the book is simple and the dialogue brings an element of both darkness and light. The fun poems that are intertwined allow the reader to engage in fun dialogue that lightens the story up. The presence of the good and evil characters give meaning to the events in the story. The children experience changes as they are challenged to come of age and do so in a quick manner. The reader also watches the father experience true happiness when he is reunited with his children. The reader can have their own genuine experience with this class tale as they can engage on many levels with the book. The development of the illustrations could further contribute to this books quality as well as the design and layout. The text of the story is strong and consistent which engages the reader on many different levels. The book is effective in sharing the timeless tale with a mix of dark and light setting. It could stand to use elements to effectively increase the tension of the story, but it was enjoyable overall.
Will adds to the Brothers Grimm story of Hansel & Gretel. The story has beautiful nature scenes and shows the witch. He relieves the tension of the witch and the terrible things she does to the children. This well-known tale in which two children lost in the woods find their way home despite an encounter with a wicked witch.
This book is about Hansel and Gretel get put in the woods by their evil step mother to fend for themselves.There they run into an old lady that wants to fatten them up and eat them, then they pushed her in the over and ran away.
I rated this 5/5 because it is an timeless classic.
I like the painting of forest and houses. I do not like the lack of perspective in the paintings, and the oddly sized human beings. The story was more macabre than I remember it. However, the calming ending the author writes, is comfort enough.
I have found it difficult to find illustrated fairy tales for kids that are written at the right level but also not dumbed down, made cartoonish or over-sanitized. This retelling hit the perfect balance. The illustrations are detailed and lovely.
I recently discovered the captivating art of Will Moses, the great grandson of Grandma Moses. I was excited to find this book! The illustrations are wonderful!
Moses, Will. Hansel and Gretel. Philomel Books, 2006. 40 p. Gr. 2-5 Hansel and Gretel are brother and sister, living with their father and step-mother. They are very poor and one night the step mother says to the father that they need to leave the children in the woods for good and even though the father does not want to he eventually agrees because everyone will starve if they stay. Hansel and Gretel were awake and heard the plan and Hansel assured his sister that they would be okay. On the way to the woods Hansel left a trail of pebbles so that they could find their way back to the cottage. When they did the step-mother was confused as to how they got back. They did the same thing the next day. Hansel used bread crumbs instead but the animals ate them. They ended up finding a gingerbread house that a witch lived in. the witch tried to trick Hansel and Gretel so that she could eat them but Gretel ended up tricking the witch and the two children escaped and eventually found their way back home to their father to find that their step-mother died of “a black heart” and they used the witches treasure to ensure they had money and food to survive! Connecting stories to the classroom is important for children. One way is to ask the children if they have ever built a ginger bread house. This allows the children to make a personal connection to the story. If the school allows it possibly even make gingerbread house with the class. Another connection that can be made from the story is the importance of trust and faith. Gretel trusted her brother who had faith that everything was going to be okay and the two used team work to escape danger and make it back strong. The story can also be used in book sets and compare this version to another version and make connections between texts.
Plot Summary: This folktale is about a woodcutter’s family who lived in a little cottage near a mysterious woods. The woodcutter’s wife (the stepmother) had a plan to take the children (Hansel and Gretel) into the forest and leave them there. She wanted to do this because the family did not have enough food to eat, so she thought if she left them there, she would at least save herself and her husband. Hansel and Gretel overheard this plan, and managed to make at back home both times. Once again, the parents took them into the forest to try and keep them there. This time, the children came upon a large clearing with candy treats and frosting. However, it wasn’t everything they thought it would be. There was an evil old lady inside that tried to lure lost children into her house so she could fatten them up and eat them. Hansel and Gretel would not let this happen, so they threw the old lady into the oven and ran back to their cottage to meet their father. Literary Merit: The theme of this story could be good vs. evil. The children have to fight for their lives and try to survive alone in the wilderness. They think that they have finally found food when they come upon the old lady’s house, but once again they run into evil. They turn around and throw her into the oven to get away. Reader Response/Classroom Connection: I could read this book around the holidays and the children could make their own candy houses like gingerbread houses. I think this activity would really bring this story to life for the students. Another activity for older students would be to create their own tale about something else. It would take the student’s creativity to make up a story like this.
Hansel and Gretel is a classic tale that has been retold for generations. Will Moses brings the story to life with fantastic illustrations that encourage the reader to slow down, and take a closer look while tasting your way through a story. The tale tales of two siblings, Hansel and Gretel, that live a challenging life with their parents in a mysterious forest. The starving and evil step mother decides to abandon the children in the woods to fend for themselves, in order to save herself and her husband from perishing. As the children trek home, they become lost and scared. Luckily for them (or is it?), they find a comfortable little gingerbread cottage to devour. Who's cottage did they stumble upon? Will they live there? Will they ever see their parents again? Read this fantastically retold tale to find out what happens! This classic story would be great to use in a classroom library. The teacher could take a tale such as this one, and compare it to a different version of the same tale. Perhaps by examining a fractured tale of Hansel and Gretel, the students could make connections between the similarities and differences between the readings. Another use this story would have in a classroom is the careful examination of the illustrations. The pictures in the story capture the emotion and remoteness of the setting, and also foreshadow events that are going to happen. Students could illustrate their own classic fairy tales, and use some of the same techniques as Will Moses uses by adding hidden pictures. This story is highly recommended for a class library.
Hansel and Gretel is a classic and traditional tale told from generations to generations. This is a story of two children from a poor family. The children live with their stepmother and father. The stepmother like in many fairy tales is evil and selfish. The stepmother convinces their father to abandon the children in the forest. The children find their way the first time. The second time, again the stepmother convinces the father to leave them in the woods as there is not enough food for everyone. The father again takes his wife's advices and leaves his children. This time as the children try to find there way home, they stumble across a beatiful enticing house made of gingerbread. The children are lured in to the house by the witch. The evil witch feeds them and then tricks the children. The witch puts Hansel in a cage while she prepares his demise. Gretel tricks the witch and then pushes her into a firery oven. The two eat enough and then find there way back to their cottage. When they arrive home, their grief-stricken father awaits them and they learn that their stepmother had died of a black heart. The story is about good prevailing evil. There are many climaxed throughout the theme. The most powerful transactions involve Hansel and Gretel. Throughout the story, they rely on eachother and their faith in God. Hansel and Gretel never get upset with their father even after he leaves them two times in the story to die.
Will Moses author and illustrator began this book by adding a source note that described why he retold this story and which version he adapted it from (Brothers Grimm). The illustrations are colorful and realistic but not over bearing of the text. A few of the illustrations are full page without any text at all which gives the reader a glimpse into the life of Hansel & Gretel. The text is boxed in with a yellow color line to draw the reader’s eye into the page. Children of divorced parents of all ages and socioeconomic levels will be able to relate to the presence of an evil step-parent and their desire to have their biological parent all to themselves. The ending is what every child wants which is to live happily ever after with the ones that they love.
Social Science/ Social Emotional Learning
Social Science Example: Have students create paths on a map to show their way home. Ask them to show you landmarks and ways that they remember how to get home if they need to explain it to someone else. Draw a map of the town students live in and mark an X at each students street to represent the distance from the school to their home.
This book is a folklore for children ranging in ages 5-10. the book is about a brother and a sister who were sent out to survive on their own. The two end up finding a gingerbread house with a mean old lady inside. She tricked the children into coming into the house for food but only planned to fatten them up and eat them later. The two get away and go home to find their father. I gave this book 5 stars. This book had an excellent plot from the beginning it had me on my toes the whole time. I believe this book is appealing to young children because firstly its about a house made out of all candy. It also has the mysterious sense behind that keeps you wondering if the two children are going to find there way back home. When using this book to work with children i would first read the book to them. I would than tell them that we are going to make a play out of the story. Each child would take turns playing a role of each of the characters in the story.
Hansel and Gretel overhear they are to be abandoned in the dark forest. When their bread crumb trail is eaten by birds, the two become lost in the woods until they happen upon a gingerbread house covered in sweet confections. The old witch inside decides to fatten up Hansel and have a feast, but the two children cleverly find ways to outwit her. Hansel and Gretel gleefully eat their fill and leave with the witch’s treasure in search of their old home. Will Moses’ retelling of Hansel & Gretel embodies the spirit of the original tale. The painted illustrations are rendered with great detail in a European folk art style and look as though they would have accompanied the story at its earliest telling. Although they hold true to the style, some of the proportions and depictions seem a bit strange and might not appeal to every kind of reader.
Hansel & Gretel By: Will Moses ISBN 0399242341, 2006. Hansel & Gretel were the children of a woodcutter but he was very poor and remarried to a very mean woman. The wicked stepmother wanted to bring the children out into the forest to fend for themselves. Once in the forest alone the children discover a wonderful house made of candy and gingerbread. The witch the owns the house invites them in but little do Hansel & Gretel know the witch wants to fatten the children up and eat them but the children outsmart the witch and take her jewels to bring back to father.
**I remember reading this book over and over as a child.
Although this book is actually pretty dark, it is a very well written and well illustrated. The one thing that I will make sure to teach, while using this in my classroom, is problem solving. Hansel and Gretel have to use different and unique ways to problem solve to save their life. Another way I would use this in a classroom would be for a lesson on 'predicting'. I will ask questions like, "What do you think will happen next?" The illustration is so amazing that it in itself is worth showing in a classroom. I think that even though this book is dark and possibly scary, I think children will really like this book.
Looking back I'm surprised I fell for fairy tales like this one, and how far I've come as a person since then. Just 'cos a witch wants to invite kids to a gingerbread house does that mean automatically she's bad? Just 'cos a stepmother is ugly does it always make her evil by ugliness alone? Just 'cos you could avenge yourself on another by stuffing her in an oven...does this make it justified or right? One reason I never read fairy tales and I stick to my Bible where Noah floats in an ark full of animals and Jesus feeds five thousand with 5 loaves and 2 little fishes. I like fairy tales like that, and I prefer it that way. How about you?
This was another book my daughter pulled off the shelf at the library. I didn't realize how lengthy it was though. Way too long for her to sit still for at bedtime.
The story itself was very true to the original. This story would actually be really scary for children, I think. I may hold off until she's quite a bit older to read the story to her again, unless I find a more child-friendly version.
The art in it was nice though. I really liked the depiction of the witch's candy house.
Overall a pretty good version of Hansel and Gretel, just be warned it is long, and probably a little scary for younger children.
This ageless fairytale is retold by Moses in a delightful and fun way. This story follows the same plot line as the old classic tale, but with a few twists and turns.
The illustrations in this picturebook were beautiful. The pages were painted and many of them were spread out over two pages, each of them full of detail and life.
I always find old classics with a new twist to be a fun read. I definitely enjoyed this different take on the fairytale and I love how it brought me back to my childhood when I would read fairytales all the time.
I love the monet-inspired watercolor illustrations, very beautiful. The story starts off true to the original, but the ending? Hansel and Gretel get a ride across the river to go back home from a duck. I don't remember that being in the Brother's Grimm version. I didn't like that part, it was corny and felt out of place.
The story is a bit longer than most picture books, so I think it's good for boys and girls starting to move into reading novels. I reccommend it to kids age 6-9.
This is told and illustrated by Grandma Moses's great-grandson. The pictures have a good deal of her charm, and the story (step-mother again, who dies of a black heart) includes the white duck and the other traditional aspects of the story, but it's looking at the details of the paintings that is the most fun. It's a very visually appealing book.
A retelling of a young boy and girl who get lost in the forest because of their evil stepmother’s plan to be rid of them so there are less mouths to feed in the home. The two try to find their way home but run into a wicked witch who is looking for a tasty meal. Will they become her tasty meal?
It's hard for me to understand how any parent, whether it be mother or father, can choose to dispose of their children simply because the "new" parent doesn't want them around. It wasn't my favorite book because of that one thing but it has an interesting tale in how they made it back home.
This is a really good story I liked it a lot. About a boy and his sister sticking together and always finding their way home despite the obstacles they must go through. This would be good for children around the 3rd grade level.
The illustrations kept my five year old enthralled in the story but I didn't remember Hansel and Gretel having an evil stepmother. As a stepmother, that element of so many fairy tales has lost its luster. Now, this one has too.
I really enjoyed this version of the classic story. Although Ive read many different versions, this one went into great detail and had beautiful illustrations to accompany the story line. I think this has enough words to keep older children interested, but not too long that they become bored.