Why black and white? The black and white artistry in this Toon Book captivate and contrast the tricky and dangerously realistic and pulsating world of Gaiman’s Hansel and Gretel.

With that visual dancing around in my head I encourage teachers to design a black and white Candy Land game board for small group play. When I read Gaiman’s Toon Books version of Hansel and Gretel I felt like I was on a journey set on a fantastical game board that lured my curiosities, sometimes up and sometimes down. Simple enough the goal is to get to the end of the fun-filled, directionally-challenged squares first. Recommended Common Core Standards for Early ReadersĬ.3 Describe how a particular story’s or drama’s plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.ĭirections: Remember the game Candy Land, with its winding and twisting brick-like paths? The paths that link the beginning of the game to the end of the game? In sum, from top-to-bottom the game board is a simple set of scattered squares moving from left to right and up and down. Themes: courage and bravery, truth and honesty, problem-solving, family, necessity versus reality Settings: woodcutter family home, the forest, old woman’s house Plot: Abandoned by their parents in a forest Hansel and Gretel must find a way to survive and thrive in the absence of sheltering parental handsĬharacters: Woodcutter, Woodcutter’s wife, Hansel, Gretel, old woman With undercurrents of bravery and courage Hansel and Gretel face their forest of fear in the tender and honest hands of both Gaiman and Mattotti.

Just like Hansel and Gretel I wanted to know the truth: Why did my birth parents abandon me as a child? How could I possibly survive alone in the great forest of life? Well, here I am. Delicate with their words and their images Gaiman and Mattotti are purposefully alluring to younger readers who want to think about and ponder the sometimes beautiful and the sometimes unfair realities of life. In the case of Gaiman and Mattotti’s courageous and brutally honest early reader comic retelling of the Grimm Brothers’ Hansel and Gretel (published by Toon Books) I challenge educators, librarians, and parents to shoo their children towards the text and the images so profoundly rich and breathtaking.

Most often I see this happen when a misguided educator doesn’t understand the full literary potential embedded in contemporary early reader comics and graphic novels. As a professor of children’s literature it often plagues me to hear and to see educators “shooing” children away from certain books and towards other books.

Hansel and gretel lorenzo mattotti