When it comes to horror, nobody does it better than the Brothers Grimm. Unless it’s Stephen King. As Halloween approaches, I once again offer a scary story for your reading pleasure. This year’s choice is a doozy.
It’s “Hansel and Gretel,” retold by Stephen King with illustrations by Maurice Sendak. You know Stephen King, of course. He’s the author of more than 60 books, all of them worldwide bestsellers and some of them—for starters, I’m thinking “The Green Mile” and “The Shawshank Redemption”—life-changing in their message. And you likely know Maurice Sendak as the author/illustrator of “Where the Wild Things Are,” “In the Night Kitchen” and many, many other wonderful children’s books.
So first a word about the illustrations in this new version, published just last month, of the classic fairy tale. Sendak, who passed away in 2012, created the set for the 1997 Englebert Humperdink opera that reimagined the classic Brothers Grimm tale. HarperCollins Children’s Books worked in close collaboration with the Sendak Foundation to convert his set designs to the printed page.
Even without the riveting story, the pictures are incredible. Angels circling the moon. A witch on her broomstick, flying through the clouds and toting a bag filled with screaming children. A woodland cottage made of cookies and candy and spicy gingerbread cakes. And–of course–the forest, where giant trees with branches like clutching fingers crowd together.
Now add Stephen King’s words to Sendak’s illustrations. For the most part, he remains true to the original story. His version is just as disturbing. Just as terrifying. Just as forever-unforgettable. No surprise, right? Also no surprise that it’s even more entertaining.
King described his newest book as a “gateway to horror” for a younger audience. “All fairy tales have a sunny exterior, a dark and terrible center and brave, resourceful children,” he said. “In a way, I’ve been writing about kids like Hansel and Gretel all my life.” He begins his retelling the same way all fairy tales begin: “Once upon a time…” Then he adds “…long before your grandmother’s grandmother was born.”
And we’re off to the races.
Hansel and Gretel’s father is every bit as weak-willed as the one in the Grimm version. The wicked stepmother (“She’s not our mama,” Gretel thinks but doesn’t say) is even more despicable. When, before heading to the forest to abandon them, the father tells his wife he fears that bears and wolves will harm the children, she replies, “Better a quick death in the jaws of an animal than slow starvation in the jaws of circumstance.”
You likely know the rest of the story. The breadcrumbs Hansel scatters to mark the way home are eaten by hungry birds. The desperate children wander around lost for days. The charming cottage they eventually discover quickly becomes a house of horrors, where a wicked witch locks Hansel in a cage with plans to fatten him up and then cook and eat him. Just in the nick of time, Gretel manages to shove the witch into the piping hot oven and secure the door with a heavy iron bar. As luck would have it, the children then discover the witch’s trunk, which is filled with gold and precious stones.
SPOILER ALERT: Stop reading now if you don’t want to know how this comes out.
The kiddos head for home through the forest, where—thank goodness–they encounter not a single bear nor wolf. They aren’t hungry because their pockets are filled with food (as well as the treasure from the witch’s house). At long last, in the distance, they spot their father’s cottage. He comes running to greet them, hugging them and covering them with kisses and promising he has sent their wicked stepmother away. The story ends the way all good fairy tales do.
They lived happily ever after.
(October 25, 2025)