Hansel and Gretel

Hansel and Gretel 

Traditional German story retold by The Brothers Grimm

Translated from the German by: Golden Press

Illustrator: Eloise Wilkin 

Grade Level: 1-4

Genre: Traditional Literature 

Awards: Bologna International Children's Book Fair Honor (1980), International Biennial of Illustration Bratislava Honor diploma (1979)

Summary: As their family faces a famine, Hansel and Gretel's stepmother forces her husband to leave his children in the woods to die since they can no longer provide for them.  Overhearing this, the children come up with a plan to find their way back home after their parents lead them into the woods.  As their parents lead them into the deep woods, Hansel drops pebbles along the path so that they can find their way back home.  After being abandoned, the children find their way back by following the trail of pebbles.  Soon after their return, their outraged stepmother leads them out into the woods again, hoping to loose them once and for all.  This time, Hansel and Gretel use breadcrumbs to find their way out.  Unfortunately, by the time they turn to head back home, the breadcrumbs are gone, eaten by the birds.  Alone with no way to guide them back home this time, Hansel and Gretel attempt to find their way home on their own.  They soon come across a house made of cake, bread, and sugar.  Starving, the children start eating the house.  Unbeknownst to them, an evil witch lives in the home.  The evil witch locks Hansel in a cage and feeds him every day in order to fatten him up for eating.  Hansel and Gretel outsmart the evil witch and end up pushing her in her own flaming furnace.  Hansel and Gretel get away and reunite with their father who is overjoyed at seeing them alive.

Evaluation: I honestly do not see myself using this in my future classroom.  I do not doubt middle school students loving this story, I just figure they will have already heard the story a lot.  There are plenty of other literature books I want to expose them to.

I put the appropriate grade level from first through fourth because I feel as though they can handle the reading level at that age.  Being honest, this is a dark story to read to that young of an age.  Even though the readability is at that grade level, I do not think most students would be able to handle it.

A lesson you could use for this book (for older students - middle school)  would be text-to-text connections.  Have the students write about another protagonist who outsmarted an antagonist.