ill. by Susanne JanssenThe story is famous: the famine, the poor woodcutter, the children abandoned in the forest, the path of small pebbles, the witch pushed in her own oven... As many of Grimm brothers' tales, this is not a witty little piece: the cruel stepmother has a morbid influence on her spineless husband who agrees on the infanticide. The whining girl, feudalized by her ingenious brother, will show herself capable of killing to save him.
After an anthological Peter Pan at Editions Être, Susanne Janssen's powerful images renew and disturb the representations linked to Grimm's tale: birds are strange baroque machines, the witch fascinates more than she repels, etc.
An elegant and unprecedended picture book.
Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis 2008
Barreiro Illustrate Prize 2007
Rights sold: German and Korean
64 pages, 21,5 x 34 cm, 5 years +
