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Hansel and Gretel
Bernadette Watt’s classic illustrations in a newly repackaged edition.
In this beloved Brothers Grimm tale, an evil stepmother sends Hansel and Gretel into the woods. Hungry and lost, they stumble upon a house made of gingerbread . . . but should they trust the old woman inside?
In this beloved Brothers Grimm tale, an evil stepmother sends Hansel and Gretel into the woods. Hungry and lost, they stumble upon a house made of gingerbread . . . but should they trust the old woman inside?
- GenresClassicsPicture Books
32 pages, Hardcover
Published November 6, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 8, 2025
REVIEW OF BERNADETTE WATTS' 2018 PICTURE BOOK
So with regard to how illustrator Bernadette Watts has in her 2018 picture book Hansel and Gretel rendered Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm's Märchen (folktale) Hänsel und Gretel into English, how she has retold Hänsel und Gretel, yes and in my opinion, Watts very closely and as such also very nicely follows the Grimms' original text with regard to contents and thematics, with Hansel and his sister Gretel being abandoned in the forest by their evil stepmother and weak-willed father, falling prey to but with clever Gretel managing to kill the evil witch and for the siblings to then return to their father with the witch's treasure and the stepmother also being conveniently deceased upon their arrival home. And indeed, I certainly do much appreciate that in Hansel and Gretel, Bernadette Watts shows how on their journey back to their father (after having roasted the witch in her own oven), Hansel and Gretel cross a lake on the back of a swan (as said riding on the back of waterfowl scenario is quite often not retained in retellings of Hänsel und Gretel albeit in Hänsel und Gretel, the children are described by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm as riding on a duck's and not on a swan's back, but no, this is indeed not at all a huge difference for and to me, and that it sure does textually please me how for Hansel and Gretel Watts keeps and includes Hansel and Gretel using a willing and friendly aquatic bird to facilitate their return home).
But just to point out that Bernadette Watts' retelling, that her Hansel and Gretel obviously hails from the 1857 edition of the Brothers Grimm's Kinder- und Hausmärchen since in the 1812 first edition, it is actually Hansel and Gretel's nasty and horrid biological mother who wants to abandon her children in the woods and which in 1857 was changed to an evil stepmother after Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm received a goodly number of complaints regarding this from parents reading Hänsel und Gretel to their children, so yeah, some mid 19th century book censorship instigated by public outcry, ha, ha, ha (and that the 1812 version of Hänsel und Gretel also does not yet have the siblings riding on a duck's back for part of their journey home). And well, considering as to why the 1812 version of Hänsel und Gretel is a bit different from the 1857 version, in my not so humble opinion, it is truly rather lacking that there is no author's note explaining all of this included by Watts for Hansel and Gretel. Equally and furthermore, the short information regarding the Brothers Grimm on the side flaps of the dust jacket of Hansel and Gretel should for one be located in the book itself (since dust jackets are often removed or go missing) and for two is for me personally also rather misleading academically since it has now been pretty much proven and established that Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm did not collect their folktales from local peasants and villagers (as is claimed on the dust jacket) but mostly from their educated Kassel friends and acquaintances (and with many of them in fact being not actually German but of French Huguenot background).
Finally, with regard to the combination of text and images in Hansel and Gretel, albeit Bernadette Watts' artwork is aesthetically adept and descriptive, I do find it rather visually annoying that the witch's tempting abode does not really look like a gingerbread house covered with candy etc. to my eyes, and that it would definitely make much more sense to have Hansel and Gretel fall for the witch's dangerous and dubious hospitality if she were to look fair and motherly or grandmotherly on the outside but be evil and depraved on the inside (since and sadly like in many Hansel and Gretel story illustrations, Watts making her witch look physically evil and nasty makes me definitely question as to why the siblings would even follow the witch into her house, why they would not immediately run away from a person looking so horrid and also wearing a pointed witch's hat). Thus while textually, I really do like Bernadette Watts' retelling of Hänsel und Gretel, the absence of an author's note (as well as the misleading details on Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm provided on the dust jacket) in conjunction with my above mentioned illustrative bones of contentions makes my rating for Hansel and Gretel only three stars (still recommended, but I do wish that Bernadette Watts had not fallen into that silly trap of depicting the witch horribly and visually creepily).
So with regard to how illustrator Bernadette Watts has in her 2018 picture book Hansel and Gretel rendered Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm's Märchen (folktale) Hänsel und Gretel into English, how she has retold Hänsel und Gretel, yes and in my opinion, Watts very closely and as such also very nicely follows the Grimms' original text with regard to contents and thematics, with Hansel and his sister Gretel being abandoned in the forest by their evil stepmother and weak-willed father, falling prey to but with clever Gretel managing to kill the evil witch and for the siblings to then return to their father with the witch's treasure and the stepmother also being conveniently deceased upon their arrival home. And indeed, I certainly do much appreciate that in Hansel and Gretel, Bernadette Watts shows how on their journey back to their father (after having roasted the witch in her own oven), Hansel and Gretel cross a lake on the back of a swan (as said riding on the back of waterfowl scenario is quite often not retained in retellings of Hänsel und Gretel albeit in Hänsel und Gretel, the children are described by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm as riding on a duck's and not on a swan's back, but no, this is indeed not at all a huge difference for and to me, and that it sure does textually please me how for Hansel and Gretel Watts keeps and includes Hansel and Gretel using a willing and friendly aquatic bird to facilitate their return home).
But just to point out that Bernadette Watts' retelling, that her Hansel and Gretel obviously hails from the 1857 edition of the Brothers Grimm's Kinder- und Hausmärchen since in the 1812 first edition, it is actually Hansel and Gretel's nasty and horrid biological mother who wants to abandon her children in the woods and which in 1857 was changed to an evil stepmother after Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm received a goodly number of complaints regarding this from parents reading Hänsel und Gretel to their children, so yeah, some mid 19th century book censorship instigated by public outcry, ha, ha, ha (and that the 1812 version of Hänsel und Gretel also does not yet have the siblings riding on a duck's back for part of their journey home). And well, considering as to why the 1812 version of Hänsel und Gretel is a bit different from the 1857 version, in my not so humble opinion, it is truly rather lacking that there is no author's note explaining all of this included by Watts for Hansel and Gretel. Equally and furthermore, the short information regarding the Brothers Grimm on the side flaps of the dust jacket of Hansel and Gretel should for one be located in the book itself (since dust jackets are often removed or go missing) and for two is for me personally also rather misleading academically since it has now been pretty much proven and established that Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm did not collect their folktales from local peasants and villagers (as is claimed on the dust jacket) but mostly from their educated Kassel friends and acquaintances (and with many of them in fact being not actually German but of French Huguenot background).
Finally, with regard to the combination of text and images in Hansel and Gretel, albeit Bernadette Watts' artwork is aesthetically adept and descriptive, I do find it rather visually annoying that the witch's tempting abode does not really look like a gingerbread house covered with candy etc. to my eyes, and that it would definitely make much more sense to have Hansel and Gretel fall for the witch's dangerous and dubious hospitality if she were to look fair and motherly or grandmotherly on the outside but be evil and depraved on the inside (since and sadly like in many Hansel and Gretel story illustrations, Watts making her witch look physically evil and nasty makes me definitely question as to why the siblings would even follow the witch into her house, why they would not immediately run away from a person looking so horrid and also wearing a pointed witch's hat). Thus while textually, I really do like Bernadette Watts' retelling of Hänsel und Gretel, the absence of an author's note (as well as the misleading details on Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm provided on the dust jacket) in conjunction with my above mentioned illustrative bones of contentions makes my rating for Hansel and Gretel only three stars (still recommended, but I do wish that Bernadette Watts had not fallen into that silly trap of depicting the witch horribly and visually creepily).
November 21, 2018
Review for “Hansel and Gretel” by Brothers Grimm:
It’s one of the well-known fairy tales written by the Brothers Grimm. The story follows a boy and a girl who are chased into the woods by their stepmother so that there won’t be any more mouths to feed in the house. They soon find a gingerbread house where they meet an old lady who turns out to be a witch. Will they manage to escape from the witch’s clutches?
Themes like brotherhood, teamwork, curiosity and ingenuity are present in the story. The readers will also learn the meaning of the saying “appearances can be deceiving”. Gretel is the image of intelligence and wits because she manages to convince the witch to get into the oven instead of her. Hansel is the image of the naive child who acts before he thinks since he’s the first one to eat from the gingerbread house.
I recommend this fairy tale to readers 6+.
It’s one of the well-known fairy tales written by the Brothers Grimm. The story follows a boy and a girl who are chased into the woods by their stepmother so that there won’t be any more mouths to feed in the house. They soon find a gingerbread house where they meet an old lady who turns out to be a witch. Will they manage to escape from the witch’s clutches?
Themes like brotherhood, teamwork, curiosity and ingenuity are present in the story. The readers will also learn the meaning of the saying “appearances can be deceiving”. Gretel is the image of intelligence and wits because she manages to convince the witch to get into the oven instead of her. Hansel is the image of the naive child who acts before he thinks since he’s the first one to eat from the gingerbread house.
I recommend this fairy tale to readers 6+.
Want to Read
April 19, 2025This rating is for the edition illustrated by Bernadette Watts.
August 31, 2019
I would give this book a 4/5 stars. The version I read was copyrighted 2018 and falls into the traditional literature genre. I noticed it displayed themes of family, marriage and greed (especially with the old witch). It was a good book but I personally didn't enjoy the plot, which is why I didn't give it a 5/5. My favorite part was when the children overheard the stepmother planning to leave them in the forest and used white pebbles to outsmart the stepmother and come back home. I might use this book in my future classroom when talking about Traditional English Literature and looking at the plot of a story.
February 19, 2019
Bernadette Watt, illustrator has that old world look to original fairytales. Beautiful!
April 12, 2020
I read this as an illustrated e-book during the Covid-19 quarantine.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews