A nightmare in eight scenes, illustrated by Clive-Hicks Jenkins

This is the fairy tale updated for the 21st Century set amidst war with hunger and poverty as its backdrop and the children named Hunger and Cold.

Each voice is in a different colour so there is no need for he said, she said – even in a poem! Set during a war, this stanza reflects the toing and froing of who is in charge and also reminded me of Ukraine or Gaza. The theme is universal.

Where there was once a village there was mainly rubble.

And where there was fun there was largely trouble.

And where there were kites there were mostly rags.

And where there was bunting there were chiefly flags.

This flag one week. The next week another.

The children listen in to their parents talking at night and misunderstand or mishear what is being said and what they fear comes true. They are left alone in the forest but not out of spite but to keep them safe from the war. There are several sections in the poem where synonyms are used and this is one place

Left. Discarded. Abandonned. Cut off.

Lost. Rejected. Deserted. Dumped.

And of course, as we all know, a forest that is beautiful by day becomes the stuff of nightmares at night. Until they scent sugar which draws them on until they meet the gingerbread house. But there is ‘No such thing as a free lunch’. They are captured and the boy is rested and fattened up and the girl works as a skivvy to slim her down. The girl manages to trap the witch in a vast vat of boiled up sugar and sweets and they return home

A full day’s hike.

A two-day trek.

A three-day slog.

A four-day trudge.

A five-day yomp.

When they arrive home by rowing and the land emerges (resolved, declared, appeared, arrived) they find their father alone and so they take him on a journey to where the land is full of trees and food and rain and if all else fails a gingerbread house.

This is not a book for children. I wonder how many refuges start their journey thinking about what they will find when they get to their destination only to realise it isn’t like that at all. This version does not make the Grimm’s tale any less scary but fits it into a context we can all understand.

The illustrations are wonderful; part woodcutting part folk art looking like they were created with coloured pencils and fit the genre perfectly.