Hansel and Gretel by James Marshall

 


Hansel and Gretel by James Marshall 

  • Traditional Literature

  • Grade: Kindergarten - 1st Grade 

  • Awards: None


Summary:

A poor woodcutter lived with his wife and two children, Hansel and Gretel. There was a famine in the land and the wife told the woodcutter to feed her and leave the children in the woods. Hansel gathered small pebbles and tossed them on the ground inconspicuously on the way into the woods so their children would be able to find their way back. The parents left Hansel and Gretel in the woods and told them that they would return. Hansel and Gretel realized their father and his wife would not return so they followed the trail of pebbles back. The woodcutter’s wife was furious and insisted that her husband take the children back to the woods. This time, Hansel and Gretel left a trail of breadcrumbs, but the next day the birds had eaten them all up. The two children made their way out of the woods and stumbled upon a small house made of sugar. The lady inside fed them and said she was sweet, but she was really an evil witch. She captured Hansel and put him in a cage until he was fat and plump enough to eat, and she made Gretel her maid and cook. When the witch checked to see if Hansel was getting fatter, he deceived her with a chicken bone and pretended to be skinny. Eventually, the witch became impatient and decided to eat both children so she told Gretel to peek into the oven. Gretel outsmarted the witch and asked her to demonstrate peeking into the oven; then Gretel pushed the witch in and roasted her. Hansel and Gretel defeated the witch and returned home to live happily ever after with their father because his wife had died while they were away. 


Evaluation:


I would not use this book in my classroom because it is for grade levels Kindergarten through First Grade. This book would be good for the beginning levels of developing literacy. This book could be used when teaching a unit on understanding characters or understanding the meaning of the story. The importance of rereading stories can be emphasized using Hansel and Gretel because the main ideas may be difficult to understand at first.

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