Nibble Nibble Mousekin: A Tale of Hansel and Gretel was published by Harcourt, Brace & World in 1962. The book represents one of Anglund’s few ventures into narrative storytelling — most of her books are collections of aphorisms or brief meditations rather than stories with plots.
Anglund’s retelling preserves the essential elements of the Grimm tale: the poverty-stricken family, the children abandoned in the forest, the discovery of the gingerbread house, the witch’s capture of Hansel, Gretel’s clever rescue. But her treatment softens the horror: the stepmother is less overtly cruel, the forest less terrifying, the witch less grotesque. The gingerbread house, in Anglund’s illustrations, is charming rather than sinister — and the children are her characteristic round-faced, innocent figures rather than the emaciated, desperate children the original story implies.
This adaptation strategy — preserving narrative structure while managing emotional intensity — was characteristic of children’s publishing in the early 1960s, before the “realistic” movement in children’s literature challenged the assumption that young readers needed protection from difficult material. Anglund’s version served parents who wanted their children to know the fairy tales but worried about nightmares.
Collecting Nibble Nibble Mousekin
First edition (Harcourt, Brace & World, New York, 1962): Hardcover, dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine/fine: $20–$50
- Very good/very good: $8–$20