Hansel And Gretel

Title: Hansel and Gretel
Author: James Marshall
Genre: Traditional Literature
Major Awards: N/A
Age Group: 1st - 3rd Grade

Summary:
Hansel and Gretel live in a cottage near a forest with their father and his wife. They went through famine, leaving them with little to eat. The wife, who does not seem to like the two children, tells the father of a plan to get rid of the children so they have more food to eat. She tells him they should leave them in the forest, and while the father was reluctant he agreed to it. However, Hansel and Gretel overheard the conversation and Hansel comes up with a plan. The next day while they are walking in the forest with the father and wife, Hansel drops white pebbles for a trail. They stay in the forest overnight and go back the next day. The wife is surprised. When the next famine happens she has the same plan, and Hansel and Gretel overhear it again but this time Hansel is not able to get white pebbles and has to use bread crumbs for a trail back.
However, with the breadcrumbs, birds came and ate the trail so the next morning Hansel and Gretel did not know how to get back. They wander around the forest and ends up at a witches house! The witch traps them and tries to fatten them up so she can eat them. Gretel manages to push the witch into the fire and she dies. After the witch dies the two children wander around the home and find gems and coins. They take this and leave the house and find themselves at a lake where a kind duck offers them a ride back to their father's house.
When they reach home the father is happy to see them and informs the children that the wife has passed away.
Then they lived happily ever after.

I would use this book in my class if I taught 2nd or 3rd grade. It is a classic story that most children know and while it is a bit dark, it has a humorous undertone and a message of being persistent and thinking outside the box.

I think this book is for the ages of 7-10. It is long but not too long and has colorful illustrations within the story. The language of the book is easy for younger children but still offers a challenge for them so it would not be too easy.

If I were to use this book in my classroom, I would have the children make cardboard gingerbread houses like the witches so they could visualize where Hansel and Gretel were at and then they could reenact the book with finger puppets.