Heckedy Peg

Heckedy Peg
By Audrey Wood
Illustarted by Don Wood
Publisher/Year: Voyager Books 1987
Pages: 29
Reading Level: 3rd Grade
Genre: Fairy Tale/Fable

Summary:

A poor mother living in the country has seven children: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. They mother has to go to the market and tells the children she will bring them each back something since they've been so good. They each ask for different things like butter, a pocket knife, a china pitcher, honey, salt, crackers, and egg pudding. The mother tells the children not to let in any strangers, and not to touch the fire as she leaves. An old witch named Heckedy Peg tricks the children into letting her into the house for a sack of gold. Once she was in the house, she turned all the children into food such as bread, pie, milk, porridge, fish, cheese, and roast rib. She took them to her house, and the mother came back to find her children gone. A bird tells the mother what happened, and she goes to find her children. She tells the witch to let her in, but first the witch makes her remove her dirty shoes, socks, and feet. She finally lets the mother in after she tricks Heckedy Peg into thinking she cut her feet off. Heckedy Peg tells the mother that she can have her children back if she can distinguish which food item her children are. The mother matches each food to the items they asked for, and she guesses all of them right. The children turned back into their real selves and they all chased the witch off a bridge.

Who would benefit from reading this book?

Anyone who enjoys reading fairy tales or fables would benefit from reading this book. I think it also teaches a good lesson to children about obedience, so any child would also benefit from reading this book.

What problems/conflicts could this book potentially cause?

This book could be said to be violent. The mother pretends to cut her feet off, and the witch kidnaps the children. However, I don't personally find great problems with this book.

My Reaction:

I enjoyed reading this book. I had never heard this particular tale before I read it. I thought it was very clever how the childrens' wanted treats from the market matched up with the food they were turned into by the witch. I also found the illustrations to be very well done, and I appreciated the beautiful depictions.