An upcoming edition of "Hansel and Gretel" combines the dark and singular talents of two literary giants who apparently never met: Stephen King and the late Maurice Sendak .
HarperCollins Publishers announced Thursday that the King-Sendak re-imagining of the famed Brothers Grimm tale about two lost children in a frightening forest is scheduled for Sept. 13. King's words will be complemented by sketches Sendak drew up for set and costume designs for a 1997 production of the Humperdinck opera adaptation.
The book was initiated by the Maurice Sendak Foundation. King, author of "The Shining," "Carrie" and other horror classics, said he decided to agree to the project after seeing Sendak's illustrations.
"Two of his pictures in particular spoke to me: One was of the wicked witch on her broom with a bag of kidnapped children riding behind her the other was of the infamous candy house becoming a terrible face. I thought, 'This is what the house really looks like, a devil sick with sin, and it only shows that face when the kids turn their backs. I wanted to write that!'" King said in a statement issued through HarperCollins.
"To me, it was the essence of this story and, really, all fairy tales: a sunny exterior, a dark and terrible center, brave and resourceful children. In a way, I have been writing about kids like Hansel and Gretel for much of my life."
