Holes

Holes	Scholastic Inc.
Written by Louis Sachar	2003
Modern Fantasy	240 pages
Reading Level age 9-12	Newberry Award

Summary

Stanley Yelnats IV is sent to Camp Green Lake, a correctional facility for boys for a crime he didn’t do. It was all because of his pig stealing great-great-grandfather. Elya Yelnats in Latvia wanted to marry a farmer’s daughter and turned to his Egyptian friend, Madame Zeroni. She told him to carry her pig every day to the mountain to drink from the stream there, chanting a spell. Then he was to take her up to drink and chant as well. He realized the daughter wasn’t the mad for him and left for America, without taking Madame Zeroni up the mountain. One of Elya’s sons was Stanley Yelnats II, was attacked and robbed by Kissing Kate Barlow near Green Lake; he survived under God’s thumb. Kissing Kate Barlow wasn’t always an outlaw, she was a school teacher that canned spiced peaches and loved Sam, the black onion seller. The towns folk, especially an unwanted suitor of Kate’s, killed Sam for kissing her. Bereft, Kate killed the Sheriff for not stopping the mob and kissed him with her red lips. When Stanley Yelnats IV arrived at Camp Green Lake, there wasn’t a lake, or any water for that matter. Stanley was told by Mr. Sir he was to dig one hole a day, five feet deep and five feet wide- the length of his shovel. He meets the crew: Armpit, Zigzag, X-ray, Twitch, Magnet, Squid, and Zero. Stanley finds a lipstick tube with the initials KB. X-ray takes it from him to earn a day off. They all dig near where X-ray ‘found’ it. They find nothing and eventually move to their own holes again. Zero convinces Stanley to teach him to read in exchange Zero would help dig his hole. Mr. Pendanski, the camp counselor is especially mean to Zero and Zero finally had enough and runs off. Stanley tries to drive the water truck out to find Zero but crashes into a hole and has to run away as well. Stanley finds Zero, whose name is actually Hector Zeroni, under an old boat eating Sploosh that tastes like peaches. Stanley sees part of the mountain that looks like a thumb, if the lipstick tube was Kissing Kate Barlow’s then his great grandfather wasn’t crazy but survived at that tall jut of the mountain. Hector is sick from eating so much of the old canned peaches and Stanley has to carry him the rest of the way to the top. Stanley finds a spring that runs up the mountain with cool water and loads of wild sweet onions and thought of the song he had been told, If only. They recuperate and Hector gets better. Stanley explains the tube and how he wants do dig one more hole. They head back down with onions and the peach jars full of water. They dig most through the night and eventually pull out a thick heavy chest. Just as they were to open it, the Warden, Mr. Sir, and Pendanski show up and try to take the chest. Immediately there are yellow spotted lizards everywhere. Their bite was poisonous. The three adults wait for the boys to be bitten and die to get the treasure out of the hole. The boys are there for hours but are not bitten, it was all the onions they had eaten. A social worker shows up and demands to see Stanley, she convinced the judge that he was innocent and came to take him home. The Warden tried to take the chest from Hector, who said that Stanley’s name was on it because his last name was Stanley backwards. The social worker took Stanley, the chest and Hector, whose files were somehow missing back to Stanley’s parents where they open the chest and find they are rich! Stanley’s father finally invented his foot deodorizer, Sploosh, the secret was peaches. Hector hired an investigator and found his mom. They all gathered to see the commercial of Sploosh, Hector’s mom singing softly, If only.

Response

I really enjoyed this book. Every aspect was important and somehow intertwined the three different stories of the various times. For example: Miss Kate’s spiced peaches were what she exchanged with Sam for his work on the school house and what saved Hector years later when the lake had dried up and Sam’s onion boat overturned, and peaches were the ingredient that finally made the foot deodorizer work. Another thing that was prominent in every story was the song passed down through the generations that finally Stanley broke by carrying a descendent of Madame Zeroni up the hill and sang the song. The balance between the three was great, there never was part that seemed out of place.

Potential Problems

This has some verbal abuse that Pendanski said to Zero, shutting him down and saying that he would never amount to anything. This along with the overall dynamics of the work camp D is really negative. But the message of friendship between Hector and Stanley seem to overcome that and they become closer for it.

Recommendations

I would recommend this to students that struggle with friends and might be bullied in school. It would help them see it from a different perspective and how to react to it. It would be a good book for those who love figuring out how different stories within a book tie together and resolve well at the end.

The Wanderings of Odysseus

The Wanderings of Odysseus	Random House Children’s Books
Written by Rosemary Sutcliff	2005
Fiction	144 pages
Reading Level age 11-14

Summary

This is a retelling of the Odyssey written by Homer. Odysseus sets off for his home, Ithaca. They were at war across the sea for 10 years. On the voyage home, Odysseus and his crew land on an island. It was the Lotus eaters, which made man forget their homes. Odysseus immediately set off the shore and continued the course. They came upon another island. The inhabitants there were Cyclops, sons of Poseidon. Odysseus and some of his scouts are trapped inside a Cyclops’s lair, being eaten two at a time. Odysseys convinced the Cyclops to drink their potent wine, causing him to sleep in a stupor. Odysseus stabs the eye and they escape. Odysseus, happy to be sailing away calls back his name boasting it was him who blinded the giant. The Cyclops, learning his name cursed Odysseus to be the only surviving of his crew and to be lost at sea for years. Poseidon accepts his son’s curse and the remaining ships wander for 10 years. They are given a bag of winds that allowed only the calm wind to sail them home. Just as they are in sight of their homeland, the crew opens the bag, blowing them all far out to sea. Odysseus is furious and keeps the crew on the boat as the other ships in the fleet goes ashore in search of food. They find a man-eating king instead that attacks and only Odysseus’ boat escapes. The tired ship sails to Circe’s island where she turns them in to pigs. Odysseus sets his men free and bargains with her to find the route home, being warned not to eat the sun god’s cattle. They sail for days and are famished. While Odysseus explores the surrounding land, the crew slew some cows for dinner. All but Odysseus were drowned in a awesome sea storm. He washes ashore on another island, where Calypso kept him seven years. He escapes and finally continues his journey to his beloved home, Ithaca. He returns home to find suitors abusing his house’s hospitality and harping his wife to be one of their wife so they could be king. With help from his father, son and two loyal servants, Odysseus kills all the suitors and sets his kingdom in order once again.

Response

I enjoyed reading the original Odyssey written by Homer. I was not satisfied by this rendition. The sentences were long and often ran on for several lines. It felt like it was telling the story in fast forward without any emphasis on the interesting or detailed parts. It would be a great study guide or refresher of the Odyssey but not a good substitute.

Potential problems

There is something lacking in the writing, the language is easier to understand but takes away from the feel of the original tale. Being an overview, some details are not so deeply described.

Recommendations

I would recommend this to students who have already read the Odyssey and need a quick read to remember certain parts of the story. It would be understood by younger students than the original.

The Eleventh Hour

The Eleventh Hour
Written and Illustrated by Graeme Base	Abrams, Harry N., Inc.
Fiction	1993
Reading Level age 4-8	32 pages

Summary

Horace the elephant is turning eleven and hosting a birthday party. He invites ten of his friends to his costume party. They arrive as two ballerinas, a princess, judge, admiral, astronaut, Cleopatra, a punk, a Musketeer and an Indian. They are shown the great banquet prepared but not to be eaten until 11:00. The party was carefully planned with sack races, musical chairs, card and board games, tennis and more. All the animal guests are having fun but think of the wonderful feast waiting for them in the dining room. Finally the clock truck eleven, all the animals rushed inside for the delicious meal. But when they arrived, all the food had been eaten, everything was gone! The animals are in an uproar shouting their innocence until Horace disappeared into the kitchen and emerged with sandwiches and the birthday cake which wasn’t in the dining room with all the other food. They set up a picnic and ate their wheat bread sandwiches and cake. This book has many clues on every page as to who the culprit. If all the puzzles were deciphered, then the reader would find that Kilroy the mouse ate the feast; but he didn’t eat it all alone, for as he said it would be too much for one mouse to eat, one hundred and eleven of his mice cousins his themselves around the property and showed up to eat the food. In the back, it also provides the answer and all the messages de-coded. Once figured that the mice were the offenders, the reader can go back and find all 111 mice hidden within the pages. The mice aren’t detailed, but just simple outlines. The number of the mice on the page is always circled somewhere in the pictures.

Response

I loved that there were different levels of interaction. I could read the book without noticing the codes and think it was a great book written in verse with a cliff hanger ending. Then I could read Inside Story at the end of the story and find the answers, or I could then be a sleuth and crack the many codes and all the clocks that are on the pages to help solve the mystery. Then when I realized that there was more than one criminal, go back and find all the mice. It was an engaging book that could have hours spent over it, puzzling it over and over until every clue had been discovered and followed. The pictures are detailed and engaging. This quote from Publishers Weekly encompasses the praise for this book: “Lush, intricately detailed illustrations…comprise a sort of hide-and-seek… The fun of pouring over the pictures for hidden messages… is, happily, matched by the enjoyment derived from the text, witty, ingenious verses.”

Potential Problems

There are so many codes to break and figure out, if one is a perfectionist and has to solve everyone, it might be overwhelming and frustrating. It is only 32 pages, but it can take from 20 minutes to read with a young child to hours with older children as they read more into the clues in the pictures.

Recommendations

I would recommend this book to children who love to solve mysteries. This doesn’t mention the culprit in the text out right, the reader need to want to find out to solve the mystery. It would be good as an application of math and problem solving skills.

The BFG

The BFG (Big Friendly Giant)	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Written by Roald Dahl, Illustrated by Quentin Blake	2007
Fiction	206 pages
Reading Level age 7-12

Summary

Sophie lives in the orphanage in London. One night she cannot sleep and peeks out the window to find a giant man is blowing something from his suitcase into windows with a long trumpet. It sees her and runs off into the night carrying her. The giant introduces himself as the BFG (Big Friendly Giant) and warns not to go outside for the other giants would eat her. Sophie is relieved he won’t eat her, but horrified about his stories of all the giants who run off to different countries to snatch and gobble little children. They go to different countries, for they all have different tastes: people from Wales taste fishy and those from Jersey taste like cardigans, etc. The BFG explains the he is so small because he doesn’t eat human ‘beans’ but snozecumbers, disgusting variations of the cucumber. The BFG shows Sophie what he does with his long trumpet. He blows dreams into the sleeping homes for children to enjoy. He takes Sophie to where dreams are collected and shows how he labels the jars he stores them in. He has such big ears; he can hear what the dream is about. He jumped up and showed Sophie the writhing dark green dream, a captured nightmare. The BFG is so upset about the dream that they return to his cave without catching any more. On the way back, the BFG decides to set the dream on one of the giants. This causes him to jerk about and wake the closest giant with a kick. This continues until all were awake and fighting each other. This gives Sophie an idea. They mix a dream, much like a cake, adding parts from other dreams. The dream was full of human eating giants, the BFG and a little girl who had a solution to the problem. The person the dream was created for was the Queen of England. Sophie showed the BFG how to get in to the garden and to leave her on the sill. When the queen awoke from the terrible dream, she saw Sophie and knew that all the other parts of the dream were true. Sophie and the BFG were invited to breakfast where Sophie explains her plan to Her Majesty. The Queen agrees and sends helicopters to follow the BFG to Giant land. There the human-eating giants are tied up and hauled back to London. Meanwhile, the Queen had a gargantuan hole dug in preparation to imprison the giants. The BFG brought all his captured dream jars and gross snozecumbers with him on the trip. The snoozecumbers were for the giants, no more human beans. Sophie and the BFG were given homes to live in and were very famous. The BFG received schooling, for he learned from only one book that was human size, very small for him. He was so thrilled with his accomplishment he wrote a book, The BFG.

Response

I love this book. The concept of actual monsters that live not under the bed, where you can check, but in a land that is past all the blank pages on the map. I always pictured myself as Sophie, charged with solving a horrible problem and cast my father as the BFG, because he seemed like he was 24 feet tall when I was younger. The sketches are interesting and totally capture the personalities of the characters.

Potential problems

The BFG has a unique way of talking that can be confusing to some; it helps to be read aloud. This is a book about giant who steal children from their beds and eat them, leaving bones beneath the windows. It all ends well, but is very intense and describes the habits of the other giants at length.

Recommendations

I would recommend this to older children, with caution, some would be too sensitive and be traumatized by the vicious giants. It would be a great book to help with bullying, because all the other giants are mean and pick on the BFG.

The Napping House

The Napping House	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Written by Audrey Wood, Illustrated by Don Wood	2000
Fiction	20 pages
Reading Level age 2-5

Summary

This book is an accumulative book, where each page adds another aspect then repeats what happened before, similar to the 12 days of Christmas. There is a napping house where everyone is sleeping. There is a snoring granny on the cozy bed. On the granny there is a child and on the child there is a dog. The dog is under the cat which is under the mouse, on the cozy bed in the napping house where everyone is sleeping. Then a flea hops onto the mouse and wakes it. This sets off a chain reaction that wakes everyone up from the mouse to the cat, the dog, the child and the granny. There is such a ruckus that the bed breaks. The last page shows all the characters outside at the napping house where no one is sleeping. The colors in this book are cool tones, signifying the night and calm, cozy emotions. As the story progresses and the stack on the bed grows taller, the room slowly brightens as the night fades and the sun rises. The brightest page is where the bed breaks and everyone is in the air having been flung off the bed. The granny has her hands outstretched with the biggest smile that is similar to the happy smile on the child’s face as he sails through the air to land on the chair. Every character appears in each page and while one character moved to the bed, it shows which would be next by the movement, stretching, uncurling and heading towards the bed.

Reaction

I love this book. It is the perfect bedtime story, showing how there are others that are sleeping and not everyone gets to stay up. I love the colors that gradually become more vibrant and show the energetic life that the sun signifies. The attention to detail is awesome. It seems as if the dog could be petted and the blankets snuggled into. I think that the married writer and author did an amazing job with this picture book.

Potential problems

I don’t think that there are any problems with this book.

Recommendations

I would recommend this as a book to read to younger children, especially at bedtime. They can pretend to be all the different animals going to bed with the granny.

Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales

Fairy Tales written by Hans Christian Andersen

Fiction The Stories of Hans Christian Andersen translated by Diana Crone Frank and Jeffery Frank, Duke University Press 2005 pages 282

The four stories read: The Princess and the Pea, The Ugly Duckling, Thumbelisa, and The Little Match Girl.

Summary

The Little Match Girl was one of the shorter fairy tales Andersen wrote. It is about a little girl who tries to sell matches on a cold wintry night. She is barefoot, having lost her slippers while she was avoiding two careening carriages. Her feet are blue and her hands are frozen. No one has bought even one match from her. She dared not go home without pennies for her father, so she curled up on a doorstep and thought about all the wonderful past New Year’s eves. She looked at the small pile of matches and lit just one in hope to warm just her fingers. She scraped it along the wall and was transported to in front of a blazing stove. She was just stretching her hands out when it disappeared and she was left with a burned-out match. She lit another and saw a great feast before her, again it disappeared before she could react and move closer. She lit another and saw a vibrant green Christmas tree all decorated, it too vanished. She lit another and match and thought of her grandmother, who had died and was missed. She frantically called for her grandmother to stay with her. She lit an entire bundle in attempt for her grandmother to stay. Her grandmother wrapped the little girl in her arms and they soared through the sky. As the New Year rose with the sun, the small frozen body of the little girl was found. Everyone believed she tried to stay warm, not realizing that the girl was finally warm, wrapped in the loving arms of her grandmother.

Response

I didn’t like this story. I saw the reason for it, but didn’t like that the little girl was left alone in the streets, afraid to go home without anything to show. She was alone and not welcomed into any homes that had blessed heat and abundant food. Andersen’s mood of his stories is more depressing than most popular fairy tales. Many have characters that are lonely, don’t fit in, or ugly. I understand that they were portrayals of his life, but didn’t like the emotions that I was left with when finished reading them.

Potential Problems

His stories are more dark and dreary, with little kind laughter or happy endings. These wouldn’t be appropriate for younger ages or those who suffer from depression.

Recommendations

I would recommend these with caution. I think that the variations that have been told that twist the endings to make them happier would be more appropriate for younger ages.

Joseph Jacobs Fairy Tales

Fairy Tales collected by Joseph Jacobs

Fiction http://www.authorama.com/english-fairy-tales-1.html

The four stories read: The Three Little Pigs, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Three Little Bears, and Tom Thumb.

Summary

Once there lived in the woods three bears. They were Great, Huge Bear, and Middle Bear and Little, Small, Wee Bear. They left their porridge cooling on the table as they went on a walk. While they were gone a little old woman peeked into the window and walked right in the door. She tasted the big bowl but left it for it was too hot, then tried the medium bowl, saying it was too cold. She tasted the littlest bowl and ate the entire thing, frustrated there wasn’t more. She went to the living room and sat on all the chairs. The biggest was too hard, the middle was too soft and the littlest was just right. She sat in the chair but it broke. She walked up the stairs to the bedroom. The larges bed was too high at the head; the second was too high at the feet. She tried the littlest bed and it was perfect. She snuggled under the covers and fell asleep. Meanwhile, the three bears had gotten back from their walk. They exclaimed that someone had been in their porridge and eaten Little, Small, Wee Bear’s. They saw the chairs in the living room and said someone had sat in their chairs and Little, Small, Wee Bear’s was broken. They went up the stairs and saw the messy bedcovers. Someone lay in their beds and was still in Little, Small, Wee Bear’s bed! When the old woman heard the high squeaking voice of Little, Small, Wee Bear, she woke up and was so frightened, she jumped out the window and was never seen of again.

Response

I found it more probable that the culprit was an old lady rather than a cute girl with golden curls. Most parents wouldn’t let children play by themselves in enchanted woods where bears could talk. I liked Jacob’s fairy collections because these were the stories I grew up on. I especially loved Tom Thumb. I was always taller than anyone else in my class and was funny to read about life from a shorter perspective.

Potential Problems

Most fairy tales were not written for children as the main audience. So there are some stories that are too gruesome and often end with the main character being eaten or robbed in order to get the point across.

Recommendations

I would recommend fairy tales to those with imagination and who love variations for the ending of stories, that don’t always end up like they are always portrayed.

Charles Perrault Fairy Tales

Fairy Tales collected by Charles Perrault

Fiction http://www.angelfire.com/nb/classillus/images/perrault/perra.html

The four stories read: Little Red Riding Hood, The Glass Slipper, Sleeping Beauty and The Master Cat.

Summary

Little Red Riding Hood was called that on account of the fact that she wore a little red cape made by her grandmother. Her mother one day gave her a basket to deliver to her grandmother, who wasn’t feeling well. Little Red Riding Hood set off into the woods and came upon a wolf, asking her where she was going. Now, she didn’t know the danger and answered that she was bringing food to her grandmother who lived near the woods. The wolf thanked her and set off down the path. Little Red Riding Hood continued on her way, picking flowers and playing along the path. The wolf by then and arrived at the house of grandmother and knocked on the door. Grandmother invited him in, thinking it was Little Red Riding Hood. He jumped to the bed and gobbled her up. He tidied up the room, for he made a mess when he ate grandmother and laid on the bed to wait for Little Red Riding Hood. Soon Little Red Riding Hood came knocking at the door. The wolf welcomed her in. Little Red Riding Hood peered into the bed and was astonished by the big legs, ear and eyes her grandmother had. The wolf replied they were better to run, hear and see with. Little Red Riding Hood looked closed and remarked on the wolf’s big teeth. The wolf said, ‘The better to eat you with,’ and ate Little Red Riding Hood just like that.

Response

I didn’t like this version of Little Red Riding Hood as much as the one where the woodcutter overhears the wolf’s snores and rescues grandmother and Little Red. This felt as if it wasn’t resolved and needed. A neat thing about the website I found, there was a short moral at the end of every story. The one for Little Red Riding Hood was that the sweetest tongue has the sharpest teeth.

Potential Problems

Some of versions of Perrault’s stories don’t end on a happy note. They don’t have the happy ending. For example, in the tale of Bluebeard, the wife opened the locked door. Furious, Bluebeard declares that he is going to kill her for not obeying. She is killed but avenged by her brothers who promptly kill Bluebeard. There is a lot of violence.

Recommendations

I would recommend these to an older audience. They would be able to separate the stories from real life and not be too worried by the fierce descriptions and events.

Peter Christen Asbjornsen Fairy Tales

Fairy Tales collected by Peter Christen Asbjornsen

Fiction http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/asbjornsen_moe.html

The four stories read: Why the Sea is Salt, True and Untrue, Princess on the Glass Hill, The East o’ the Sun and West o’ the Moon, and Three Princesses of Whiteland.

Summary Princess on Glass Hill

Once there was a farmer with three sons. Each St. Johns’ night there was a great ruckus and the grass was eaten to the nub. The farmer was frustrated that he had to plant new seed so the next year, he told his oldest to go see what was eating the crop. The oldest went out to the barn and came back soon after describing terrible noises and did not stay to investigate. The next year the second eldest went and returned the same way. The following year the youngest pleaded to be sent out and discover what the problem was. He hid in the barn like his brothers and heard all the horrible noises but thought that if that was as bad as it would get, he would be alright. He looked outside and found a large horse nearby chewing on the crop. He haltered the horse and led it to a secluded and hidden place. He returned in the morning and said that he heard nothing in the night and the hay was still there. The next year, he ventured out again to the barn and once more found a horse, this one being much sleeker and finer than the horse before. He joined it with the first and returned home, claiming that nothing happened but the crop was still there. The older brothers were frustrated but scared enough to stay in the house the next year as the youngest went out to the barn. He listened to the noise and saw an even bigger and grand horse. He tethered it close to the other two horses he captured. Now there was a king who proclaimed that any man could marry the princess, if they could ride up the hill of glass to where the princess sat. Many tried but could not even get a third of the way up. The older brothers of the farmer went to watch and attempt, not allowing the youngest to go. Then a knight in brass on a fine horse, he climbed only a third and rode back down. As he turned to go, the princess tossed a golden apple, signifying her affection, rolled into his boot. The second day another knight, dressed in shining silver attempted the hill after everyone was dropping with exhaustion. He calmly rode two thirds and turned down. Again, the princess tossed a golden apple to him, for he had gotten the highest of all the suitors. No one could produce either the first or second apple. The third day, there was no sign of the brass or silver knights, but there arrived a knight of golden armor. He rode up the hill confidently and reached the top, where he took the last golden apple from the princess and rode off. Everyone from the kingdom was called before the king to produce the apples. The two brothers were asked if they had any siblings and were summoned to bring the youngest. He produced not one of the golden apples, but all three. He was married to the princess and held a mighty wedding feast for the people.

Reaction

I thought this was an interesting story. I didn’t like the layout of some of the fairy tales. The details were not connected and woven into the story. It felt that there were pieces of different stories patched together. There was a farmer with three sons that had a horse infestation that happened to be by a kingdom with a glass hill as the challenge to marry the princess. I thought that the concepts of the tales were funny and original, like Why the Sea is Salt, but think that the facts and components should be more integrated and related to each other.

Potential Problems

There are some stories that do not end well for the main character, ending in death. Also there is an abundance of stories about the devil that don’t teach good morals, instead that you can make deals with the devil but can in the end trick him. It doesn’t work that way entirely.

Recommendations

These fairy tales are more based on overcoming problems and outwitting a scoundrel. I think that these would be more interesting to boys than the fairy tales of rescuing fair lady and happily ever after.

Grimm Fairy Tales

Fairy Tales collected by Brothers Grimm

Fiction http://www.familymanagement.com/literacy/grimms/grimms-toc.html

The four stories read: Little Red-Cap, Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, and Rapunzel.

Summary

Hansel and Gretel were two children living with their father and stepmother. There was little food and stepmother convinced their father to leave the children in the woods so there would be enough food for the two of them. Father relented and the next day took his children into the woods to chop firewood and leave them lost. Hansel overheard the conversation and stuffed his pockets with white stones, which he tossed behind him to mark the path they took. Their father left them with two small loaves and returned to the house, sad. Hansel and Gretel spent the night in the woods then followed the shining stones home. The stepmother was angry they returned, but their father was joyous, thinking he would never see them again. A few years later, the same thing happened. There was a shortage of food and the stepmother convinced their father again to lead them into the woods. Hansel overheard but could not gather stones because stepmother locked the door. As they set off to the woods, Hansel crumbled his loaf and left a trail of crumbs. The next day, the children set off to follow the crumbs home, but there were no crumbs for the crows and birds had eaten them all. The children wandered until they found a house in the deepest part of the woods covered in sweets and bread. They tore off pieces and ate until they were full. An old witch, whose house they ate off invited them into the house and planned to eat them. Hansel was put into a cage while Gretel was forced to cook delicious meals for him to get him plump. The old witch could not see well so when she tested Hansel’s fatness, he held out a bone for her to feel. Frustrated that he hadn’t gotten any larger, she decided that she would eat him today. Gretel was to heat the oven for Hansel but tricked the old witch to stick her head in, to show here how. Gretel immediately pushed the witch in and latched the door. She freed Hansel from his cage and they took the bags of jewel and money from the witch’s house. They walked and finally made it to a river. They convince a duck to carry each of them across and continue their journey home. Their father was overcome with happiness, the woman being dead and his children returned safe.

Reaction

I love the Grimm version of the fairy tales. I grew up being read from them and loved the suspense and details portrayed of the villain’s demise. I think that these were better representations of fairy tales, where the main character must conquer or overcome a problem or person. The stories were familiar, but interesting to see the small twists and variations between the different versions.

Potential Problems

This story has a mean step mother who is selfish enough to convince her husband to abandon his children in the woods to have enough food for herself. The Grimm fairy tales are grim and often describe violent, graphic scenes. These would be inappropriate for younger children.

Recommendations

I would recommend Grimm’s versions to older students and those who have already read the Disney and lighter sides of fairy tales.