Saucy and Bubba: A Hansel and Gretel Tale

Product Description

“. . .compelling and ultimately hopeful story.” National Book Award finalist, Debby Dahl Edwardson

This modern-day version of the Hansel and Gretel Grimm’s Brothers story is so much more than just a cute story. Saucy and Bubba struggle to get along with Krissy, their stepmother. One freezing cold night, Krissy locks Saucy out of the house and Saucy must sleep in the barn. In a desperate move, Saucy and Bubba run away to their aunt’s house-except Aunt Vivian isn’t home. Trying to take care of Bubba for several days forces Saucy to take charge of her own life and accept a terrible sacrifice in order to find safety for herself. 

This novel is a heartbreakingly simple story that weaves through the tangled threads of a family and builds to an ending full of hope. 

Stories like this one carry a certain darkness, even if the events carry the weight of truth. It’s in the tradition of 
Dicey’s Song by Cynthia Voigt, and The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson. Both of these award-winning books tell of painful truths, but they manage to do so with respect for the child reader. I especially like Paterson’s statement that she always ends her stories with a note of hope. Fortunately, Saucy’s story also ends with hope that the family will work things out and come back together

Join Saucy and Bubba in their poignant search for family.

Review

PRAISE FOR THIS BOOK:

Sometimes you have to help yourself before you can help someone else, but if you mark your trail, you can always find your way home. That’s what the spunky main character of Darcy Pattison’s Saucy and Bubba learns in this modern day Hansel and Gretel tale. Saucy is a real character dealing with real stuff–hard stuff that doesn’t have easy answers, not in real life and not in fairy tales, either. This is a really compelling and ultimately hopeful story. Highly recommended. 

— Debby Dahl Edwardson, National Book Award finalist and author of My Name is Not Easy

From the Author

WHY DID YOU WRITE THIS BOOK?

I’ve always been fascinatedby the Hansel and Gretel story, and I thought I could add to theconversation about step-families, especially when the step-parent hasproblems. Children struggle to find their place in a new configurationof family and that can be infinitely complicated by other problems.

I also like that it has the fantasy/folk element to the story. Bringingthe story into the modern century was fun. Rethinking the responses oftoday’s families ultimately led me to a story of hope.

HOW DOES THIS STORY UPDATE HANSEL AND GRETEL?

Like the folk tale, this is a story of a brother and sister who sticktogether in the midst of family problems. Krissy, the step-mother, bakes gingerbread houses as display pieces for a local bakery. It was funadding other elements of the story such as a path of white stones thatwill bring the family back together.

The basic elements of thefolk tale are intact, but are embodied in fully-fleshed out charactersleaving this as a poignant story that will linger in your heart longafter you close the book.

From the Inside Flap

Daddy only needs one more run in his big rig to be able to purchase horses and start the ranch he’salways dreamed of. But that means Saucy and Bubba have to survive the long days that he’ll be gone. Saucy takes her responsibility as the big sister seriously and when Krissy, her step-mother, makes a mistake–again–Saucy realizes that she must make a terrible choice to save her family.

From the Back Cover

Author Darcy Pattison knows what it’s like to survive familyturmoil. In sixth grade, her parent divorced and her mother remarried aman who brought a new set of problems with him. She brings a sense ofreality to the difficult struggle of learning to live with uncertaintyand learning to take care of yourself. 

About the Author

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Award-winning children’s book author DARCY PATTISON has received starred reviews from PW, Kirkus, and BCCB.  Her title, The Journey of Ol