The story of Hansel and Gretel as told by Gretel, in her own voice and with her point of view. A very clever pop-up story—and a potential model for student pieces.

Kees Moerbeek, ©2002, Simon and Schuster, ISBN 0-689-84602-9

Write a Point of View

Any of the fairy tales, or indeed a part of any novel, or a historic event, can be rewritten into the form of a diary of one of the characters. In this way, the character can be given his or her own peculiar qualities that can come our in the telling. In this story, Gretel is just a little acerbic. She doesn’t have much confidence, deservedly, in her brother Hansel but she loves him and saves him anyways.

Students can take a fairy tale and and rewrite it from the point of view of one of the characters. Cinderella;s story could be told from the point of view of one of the stepsisters, or one of the mice, to the fairy godmother. The fairy godmother, for example, might think that Cinderella is a little bit of a whiner—always calling for help and crying instead of helping herself.

Creating a Mock Newspaper

A mock newspaper story is a great time to teach how to write a newspaper story. Elements that matter are that the paragraphs are short with only one or two sentences. The lead paragraph contains the who, what, where, when, why, and how of the story. Quotes of in the middle. It should be able to cut from the bottom to fit in the newspaper.

Working in teams of 4–5, students can choose a fairy tale then write an entire front page of newspaper stories that might emerge from the fairy tale they have chosen.

For 5 writing ideas, click Diary of Hansel and Gretel to download.