Hansel and Gretel

Masters of their craft * The Observer *A modern classic - superb * Daily Mail *Gorgeous, Blakean images * The Observer *Don’t get gobbled up. That primal warning is the central thread that glitters darkly through many of the best children’s stories… [A] new version of Hansel and Gretel…by Stephen King no less…Yes, please. * The Times *Sendak loved the poet and artist William Blake…and his hero’s influence illuminates every page of this gorgeous hardback * The Times *King’s punch-like prose and Sendak’s haunting drawings make for an immensely absorbing book: Hansel’s nightmarish visions brilliantly project the readers’ anxieties. And, as with Where the Wild Things Are, Sendak’s drawings tease with their beauty as much as with their menace. * The Telegraph *[A}fascinating curio for the horror fan who has small kids * The FT *[A] joy from start to end * The Sun *If your young reader likes fairy tales with a gleefully Gothic edge, this is the book for them * The Irish Times *[T]his glorious picture book features King’s reimagining of the late illustrator Sendak’s beautiful opera set and costume designs for the Humperdinck opera based on Hansel and Gretel. The result is a thrilling book brimming with the menace * Lancashire Evening Post *A story filled with both darkness and light, traditional and modern storytelling, illustrations that will carry you into the dark wood * Armadillo Children’s Books *A cracker * The Spectator *

Stephen King is the author of more than seventy books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His new novel Never Flinch comes out in May 2025. His recent work includes the No. 1 bestsellers You Like It Darker, Holly, Fairy Tale and Sleeping Beauties (co-written with Owen King). He is also the author of the iconic novel Carrie. Many of King’s titles are the basis for major motion pictures, TV series or streamed events including The Dark Tower, IT and The Shawshank Redemption, which is IMDb’s top-rated movie of all time.

King is the recipient of The Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence 2022, the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

Maurice Sendak’s books have sold over 50 million copies and have been translated into more than 40 languages. He received the 1964 Caldecott Medal for Where the Wild Things Are and is the creator of such classics as In the Night Kitchen, Outside Over There, Higglety Pigglety Pop! and Nutshell Library. In 1970 he received the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal for Illustration, in 1983 he received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award from the American Library Association, and in 1996 he received a National Medal of Arts in recognition of his contribution to the arts in America. In 2003, Sendak received the first Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, an annual international prize for children’s literature established by the Swedish government. In 2024, HarperCollins released Maurice Sendak’s Ten Little Rabbits (published by Puffin in the UK in February 2025), a hilarious counting picture book starring Mino the Magician, which School Library Journal called in a starred review, “a newly discovered treasure from a beloved children’s book magician”.