Hansel and Gretel ~Book Review~

Hansel and Gretel

By: Mike Klaassen

Cleanliness (See “About” for scale): Slightly Tainted (No cursing. Other content to consider: abandonment, abuse, witches, mention of cannibalism, descriptive vomiting, mention of flesh ripping, flesh cooking, and death.)

3 Stars

This book was a little disappointing to me. First, I’d like to point out the title Hansel and Gretel. I really think the author should have been a little more creative with the name. Just glancing at the title (without seeing the cover), there is no way you’d think it was a retelling. I sure didn’t! The last third or so of the book was actually just the original Grimm story, though. That made it easy to compare the two.

This book wasn’t much of a retelling to me. At first, I thought I was just reading the original except someone had changed Hansel into a brat. It got better (and a little more like a retelling) as the story progressed. I liked the differences okay, but the last paragraph was odd, and I felt like the author should have written a little more.

This Hansel and Gretel had some very good messages to get across, and I did like that. First (although hopefully everyone knows this… haha!), it taught not to trust creepy old ladies when you’re lost in the woods. Secondly, it taught that sometimes it takes almost losing someone to appreciate how much they mean to you — and it shouldn’t be that way. Lastly, it taught that one kid can make a big difference.

I rated this book three stars because the summary of my feelings toward it were… “eh.” Would I buy it for myself? No. If you want to read about Hansel and Gretel, I would suggest finding yourself a copy of the original.

 

 

~I was sent a free copy of this book from AuthorsDen for an honest review~