Hansel and Gretel

Description: "The haunting tale of two brave children lost in a dark and dangerous forest, reimagined by literary legends Stephen King and Maurice Sendak"--

Brief description:

Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His new novel, Never Flinch, comes out in May 2025. His recent work includes You Like It Darker (a New York Times Book Review top ten horror book of 2024), Holly (a New York Times Notable Book of 2023), Fairy Tale, Billy Summers, If It Bleeds, The Institute, Elevation, The Outsider, Sleeping Beauties (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy: End of Watch, Finders Keepers, and Mr. Mercedes (an Edgar Award winner for Best Novel). His novel 11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by the New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. His epic works The Dark Tower, It, Pet Sematary, Doctor Sleep, and Firestarter are the basis for major motion pictures, with It now the highest-grossing horror film of all time. He is the recipient of the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

Review Quotes:

"This splendidly chilling variation of the Brothers Grimm story is built around costume and set designs that late Caldecott Medalist Sendak produced for a Humperdinck opera... While the narrative's characterizations and diction hew to tradition its horrors land with fresh force in an epic retelling that suits the illustrations' eerie magnificence." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Hansel and Gretel AGE 6, 4 stars From the editors: An inspired reboot from the brilliant pairing of horror master Stephen King and the late children's author-illustrator Maurice Sendak. The spooky art and text maintain the menacing atmosphere of the kids' perilous adventure. They've revitalized this old gem for a new generation of young readers. https: //www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/hansel-and-gretel - Common Sense Media

Hansel and Gretel may be a European tale, but this is an unapologetically American retelling. The house is made of cookies and gumdrops, the wicked stepmother makes "a jelly roll-up for her husband and a thick meat sandwich for herself". Dressed like Huckleberry Finn, Hansel dreams of a witch flying "with a bag of stolen kiddos" on her magic broom. - The Times (London)

King makes good on his promise to "leave in all the good parts" while also teasing out other themes of hypocrisy and the lies people tell in the name of religion. "God will protect the little ones, I'm sure of it," the broom-maker's wicked wife says soothingly while squirrelling away joints of beef. "At the very worst, they will fill their bellies with manna from heaven." When "the kiddos" are reunited with their father, sunlight breaks unnaturally brightly across Sendak's orange sky. "And you know what comes next?" King says. "They lived happily ever after." Do you believe him? - The Times (London)