You see, these two children are Hansel and Gretel, and when they learn that their father killed them for another, they decide to run away from home (lest he decide to kill them again someday). Johannes is restored, the children are saved from their death because of the power of love and sacrifice, and everyone lives happily ever after. When the king and queen learn of Johannes’s great act of loyalty, of under-standing (that is, standing beneath them and shouldering their responsibilities and beliefs), the king decides he will do anything to bring Johannes back to life – even behead his own twin children.

And stop them he does, but at great personal cost – for he cannot speak of the curse without damning himself to stone. When the king steals the golden princess and makes her his new queen, Faithful Johannes learns that great tragedy is in store for his sire and his wife – unless Johannes can stop the curse. But somehow, the young king finds the portrait, and he falls hopelessly in love.

Johannes also agrees to the last king’s wish that his son never see the secret portrait of the golden princess, for fear that the young king would fall hopelessly in love with the cursed woman. When the former king passes away, he tells Johannes to serve his son as loyally and helpfully as he served him, and his father, and his father’s father, and so on. Once upon a time, there was a long line of kings who were all served by the Faithful Johannes. Then, this year, I saw a copy on my weekend trip to The Strand and I knew it was a sign – time to bust out this title and review it for Halloween Week.

Why did I read this book: I remember hearing about how awesome this book was when it came out last year, but never really had the time or drive to pick it up and get it out of the TBR. As readers follow the siblings through a forest brimming with menacing foes, they learn the true story behind (and beyond) the bread crumbs, edible houses, and outwitted witches.įairy tales have never been more irreverent or subversive as Hansel and Gretel learn to take charge of their destinies and become the clever architects of their own happily ever after. In this mischievous and utterly original debut, Hansel and Gretel walk out of their own story and into eight other classic Grimm-inspired tales.

Genre: Horror, Fairy Tale Retellings, Middle Grade

A tale dark and grimm adam gidwitz