Rapunzel

Zelinsky, P. (1997). Rapunzel. New York: Dutton Children's Books.

Summary

Taken from her parents as a baby by a sorceress, Rapunzel is named after the herb her father was caught stealing to satisfy her pregnant mother. At the age of twelve, Rapunzel is taken to live in a grand, high tower in the woods with no doors and only one window at the very top. For years Rapunzel lives alone in her tower with the sorceress her only visitor, until one day a prince riding through the woods hears Rapunzel's beautiful singing. Enchanted by her voice, he watches the strange tower to learn how to enter. After the sorceress has come and gone, the prince mimics her by calling "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!" Rapunzel's golden hair cascades down to the prince, who climbs up as he has seen the sorceress do. The two young lovers decide to marry in the tower. When the sorceress discovers their secret, she cuts Rapunzel's hair in a fury and uses it to lure the prince to tragedy. Blind and wandering through the wilderness for a year, he is saved by the sound of Rapunzel's sweet voice. The two are reunited and are welcomed back into his kingdom, where they live happily ever after.

Worth a bookmark?

Being a Caldecott Award winner, the initial attraction to this particular version of Rapunzel is the illustrations. Zelinsky sets the story in the Italian Renaissance by using that style of painting for the illustrations, and this style fits well with the language of the story. The emotions of the characters are so evident with the vivid illustrations! A reader can see delight, fury, terror, despair, and love in the faces of the characters. Zelinsky's version is different from others I have read; it was interesting to see the same basic story told in a different way. I have a special attachment to this book because I recently read it to my class of second graders after I was shocked to learn they had never heard this story along with several other fairy tales. They were enthralled by the story and the illustrations, and it has been a wonderful experience to continue sharing fairy tales with them.

In my library…

Since Zelinsky's version of Rapunzel is only one of many, I would use this in my library as part of a study of the many versions of fairy tales. With younger students the focus would be on comparing story elements in the different versions, like setting, character, and plot specifics. With younger students this study could broaden into how fairy tales have evolved through the centuries and why different cultures portray the story in a certain way.

Reviews

K-Gr 3--In a lengthy note, Zelinsky explains his research into the pre-Grimm Brothers' origins of "Rapunzel" in French and Italian tales, but his retelling does not vary significantly from other picture-book renditions. However, his version does not sidestep the love between the maiden in the tower and the prince, as some retellers have done. The lovers hold a ceremony of marriage between themselves, and it is Rapunzel's signs of pregnancy that bring about her banishment from the tower and her prince's downfall. What sets this Rapunzel apart from the others is the magnificence of the Renaissance setting. Readers will linger over the opulence and rich details of furnishings and fabrics, and admire the decorative patterns and architectural details of the tower and the rooms. Echoes of high Renaissance art can be seen in the costumes, the buildings, and the landscapes. In their postures and gestures, the richly dressed characters might have stepped out of the paintings of Botticelli and Mantegna and Verrocchio and Raphael. But in Zelinsky's scenes there are no angels, no holy figures, no miracles--only magic. The impossibly high, almost pencil-thin tower looms above the trees. Rapunzel's hair, cascading some 50 feet to the ground, would daunt the sturdiest climbers unless they were a sorceress or a young man in love. Each scene, from the delightful Italianate farm pictured on the endpapers to the last happy scene where the prince and his bride pose with their cherub-like twins, is painted, writes Zelinsky, as a humble attempt to "spur an interest in the magnificent art from which I have drawn." A stunning effort. (Shirley Wilton, Ocean County College, Toms River, NJ, published in School Library Journal)