Hansel and Gretel

April 1, 2009
Gr 1-3-Isadora's abbreviated retelling of the popular Grimm Brothers tale closely follows the original in both plot and detail while making the story more accessible to a younger audience. With the same artistic style she used in her adaptations of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" (2007) and "The Fisherman and His Wife" (2008, both Putnam), she again sets her tale in Africa, piecing colorfully patterned and hand-painted papers together to create bold, busy eye-catching scenes with a strong ethnic feel, although no specific culture is featured. Scenes include a thatch-roofed hut, a large orange sun, coconut palms, and trees shaped like baobabs. Faces cut from brown-streaked paper in silhouette style are, nevertheless, filled with emotion, resulting from the shapes and placement of eyes and mouths. Even young children will comprehend the domineering stepmother; the meek father; and the fearful, disbelieving children. While most scenes are set against stark white backgrounds, several night scenes, filled with an array of wildlife, appear dark and foreboding, but not overly scary. The witch, a black-costumed hag with green hands and face and red-highlighted eyes, provides the only potentially frightening element. Those youngsters who can deal with the malice of stepmother and witch will delight in this highly artistic and unusual presentation."Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2009
Preschool-G As in The Princess and the Pea (2007) and numerous other retellings, Isadora sets a traditional European fairy tale in an African setting. This time, Isadora chooses one of the scariest stories evertold about small kids who must fight evil, powerful adults. Spare prosecombines withlush, bright cut-paper collage illustrations that showHansel and Gretelabandoned in the dense forest, lured and locked up, and then finally triumphant after they trick thewitch and push her into the burning oven. The immensely detailed double-page spreads are dense with jungle animals and plants, but the real terror is inside the witchs house, filled with dark silhouettes. Drawing on beautiful, geometric African patterns common to traditional Kente cloth, Isadora balances her compositions with soothing white space. Kids willbe held bythis strong retelling of the familiar story about a brave boy and girl who overcome alooming threat and find their way home.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)