Yep. Cried here too. ( )

A mother goes to market, leaving her children at home with instructions to open the door to no one. But of course they do, and a witch called Heckedy Peg turns them all into inanimate objects. When their mother returns home, in order to break the spell, she must figure out who has been turned into which object. Thinking about what each child asked for from the market, she is able to figure it out. ( )

This book is about a witch and seven young children. The children’s mother had decided to go into town to pick up some treats for the children. She had expressed to the children not to answer the door or let anyone in. Shortly after the mother leaves Heckedy Peg shows up, hobbling towards their house. She convinces the children to let her in, and in return she’ll give them a bag of gold. Not listening to their mothers warning, they let her in, and she quickly changes them into food, and kidnaps them, taking them back to her home. The children’s mother soon returns to find her children gone. She finds her way to Heckedy Peg’s house. Before she is allowed in, she must remove her shoes, and cut off her feet. Deciding to outsmart the witch, she kneels down and enters into the house. Heckedy Peg and the mother make a deal, that if she (the mother) can figure out which food is what child, she may have them back.

I actually really liked the book, it was very eye catching and well presented in it's text. I would not read this kind of book to my students or use it for a type of lesson. ( )

"Heckedy Peg" tells the tale of a poor mother who lives in a cottage with her seven children, who are named by the days of the week. One day, while the mother is in town gathering things for her children, a witch comes along and tricks the children into letting her into their home. Heckedy Peg turns them all into food, and will only turn them back into humans if their mother can guess which child each food is. She uses the items her children wanted from town to guess correctly and get her children back.

This book possesses pretty much all of the components one thinks of when they hear the word "fairy tale." There is the concept that good always defeats evil, it starts with once upon a time and ends happily, takes place in a village/forest, and includes magical elements. The illustrations do a wonderful job of conveying all of these components, especially clearly identifying who is good and who is evil. There is always a light around the mother and her children, while the witch is always in the dark. ( )

Read this years ago but didn't remember it well so decided to again. Glad I did. Powerfully gorgeous illustrations. Puzzle concept clever. Sense of story and text imperfect. After all, for example, if mother has seven children and is noted as being poor, how does she buy seven presents at market? And if the children are so good, how are they so easily fooled? Still, a quality book for any library or collection of picture-book fables. ( )