“At last, here is the true story of what really happened to Hansel and Gretel, in the words of Gretel herself.
This book is a faithful reproduction of Gretel’s original diary, complete with all of her drawings — as well as the very first newspaper article by the Brothers Grimm.”
Now this is one clever little book! Gretel’s narration of the harrowing journey faced by herself and her brother Hansel, is presented in childlike handwriting on notebook pages with drawings and souvenirs. She’s even included the instruction sheet for the witches oven!
The pop-up forest and gingerbread house enhance an already very entertaining tale. I couldn’t help but audibly laugh at things like Gretel’s comments on her brother’s plan to drop bread crumbs to leave a trail - ” Like the birds would not eat Them!” . . . “but all the breadcrumbs are Gone! Just like I told him! NOW we’re LOST FOREVER!!!“ And when she rescues Hansel from being cooked in the oven, “Then I Ran outside to unlock Hansel and set him free. I savEd his Life! He’d better be nice to me from now on.”
Mees does a great job of capturing childlike observations while adding a clever twist to a well-known fairy tale.
I give The Diary of Hansel and Gretel two thumbs up (real thumbs and not chicken bones to convince you I’m too thin to eat) and I’d give it more if I had more thumbs!
