Josh Funk

1. A retelling of Hansel and Gretel, which was originally recorded by the Brothers Grimm in 1812
2. Mentions of other fairy tales, such as Jack and the Beanstalk, and contains hidden search-and-find fairy tale creatures, such as The Evil Witch, in the illustrations
3. References of feminism, including the switch from "Hansel and Gretel" to "Gretel and Hansel" and the quote: "This is ridiculous! The boy gets to sit around and eat cnady while the girl has to cook and clean? Get with the times--this is the fifteenth century!"
4. The story is driven by dialogue and contains many speech bubbles; could be tied to a lesson on speech vs. thought bubbles
5. The writing style in which the storyteller and the characters interact with each other would make for an engaging read aloud
6. Bold and playful illustrations
7. One of the four (as of now) It's Not a Fairy Tale book series… (meer)

When the letter R disappears, a little brown-skinned girl with Afro-puffs finds that her pet ferret, Doodles, has turned into pet feet! But on her mission to save Doodles, she encounters chaos - from kids on "go-cats" to a policeman on the back of a galloping "hose." The author cleverly avoids using the letter R until the girl and her pet find the source of the trouble: a ship full of pirates who have stolen all the Rs. The pirates return the pilfered Rs and "the R fiasco was resolved...but then, on the verge of sleep, the girl realizes that all the Zs are missing...

Lots of fun wordplay and a cute fe(rr)et!… (meer)