The author introduces the stories and interrupts them periodically in passages set off in bold type, speaking directly to the reader in a deliberately modern and informal tone: "I'm sorry. In the bloodiest and most terrifying story, Gretel falls in love with a handsome young man who lures her to his home in the woods where he daily hacks young women to pieces for dinner. The brother and sister are two of the unluckiest children ever, as they fall into the clutches of a succession of terrible grown-ups, from their father who cuts off their heads to the baker woman who wants to eat them, and even the devil himself. Instead of the oft-tried technique of expanding a single Grimms' fairy tale into a novel, Gidwitz takes several tales and weaves them together into one darkly humorous chapter book starring Hansel and Gretel.
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