Hansel and Gretel: a book club kit

Where it comes from. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, two brothers in Germany, wrote this down in 1812. In the old telling, the children were sent away. In ours, they get lost.

In short (for the leader; it gives the ending away). In a hungry year, Hansel and Gretel are led into the forest and left behind, but they find their way home by the light of white pebbles. The second time the birds eat Hansel's trail of bread crumbs, and the children come to a house made of bread and cake. A witch lives there, but Gretel outwits her, and the children carry her treasure home.

The lesson, in one line. Staying together and thinking clearly can beat a big danger.

Reading plan, by the story's parts. Meeting 1: Part One, “The White Pebbles” and Part Two, “Lost”, pages 1–8 (about 4 minutes aloud); Meeting 2: Part Three, “The House in the Woods” and Part Four, “Home Again”, pages 9–18 (about 5 minutes aloud). Each stop's own questions, which never give away what comes next: Hansel and Gretel by chapter.

Questions to talk about

1. Where does Hansel and Gretel come from?
   The story's answer: It is a German fairy tale that the Brothers Grimm published in 1812. They credited stories from the region of Hesse, and the family of Dortchen Wild, Wilhelm Grimm's friend and later wife, is the likely source. Parts of it are older: a trail of stones and crumbs is in Charles Perrault's “Hop-o'-My-Thumb” of 1697.
2. How did the Grimms change Hansel and Gretel over the years?
   The story's answer: The story grew longer with each edition. In the first edition, in 1812, the children's own mother is the one who wants them gone, and in the fourth edition, in 1840, she became a stepmother. The duck that carries the children across the water was added later. In this telling, the children simply get lost in the forest.
3. Is Hansel and Gretel a true story?
   The story's answer: No, it is a fairy tale. The folklorist Jack Zipes places its beginnings in Germany in the late Middle Ages, between about 1250 and 1500, and connects it to the famines of that time.
4. Who in the story was kind, and who was not? How do you know?
   Listen for: Ask for the moment in the story that shows it.
5. Which part would you change, and how would the story end then?
   Listen for: There is no wrong ending; ask what else would have to change.
6. Is there a rule of three in this story (three tries, three wishes, three visitors)? Why do you think fairy tales like threes?
   Listen for: Many do; a third time is where the change happens.

Did you know?

• Published by the Brothers Grimm in 1812, in the first edition of Kinder- und Hausmärchen, as tale number 15.
• The Grimms credited “various tales from Hesse.” The household of Dortchen Wild, who later married Wilhelm Grimm, is the likely source.
• The Grimms changed the children's mother into a stepmother in the fourth edition, in 1840.

Activity: Draw the story as a map

On one big sheet, draw every place the story happens and the path between them. Mark the spot where things go wrong and the spot where they come right.