Module 3: Rapunzel

Book Summary:
In this book, Rapunzel’s mother, before she is born, has cravings for the Rapunzel plant growing in the garden next door. Her husband finds a way into the garden and takes some of the Rapunzel for his wife. One time when he is doing this, the owner of the garden, a sorceress, catches him in the act. As payment, she takes the baby as soon as she is born. She raises Rapunzel as her own. She locks her in a tall tower, where the only way in is a high window up at the top. The sorceress uses Rapunzel’s long hair to climb in and out of the tower. Eventually, a handsome prince stumbles across the tower, and he climbs Rapunzel’s hair to the top. They fall in love and had their own wedding ceremony in the tower. When the sorceress realizes that Rapunzel is pregnant, she cuts off Rapunzel’s hair and turns her out into the wilderness. Then she pushed the prince from the tower the next time he climbs up, and he is blinded by the fall. After he wandered blindly for a year, he came across Rapunzel and the children. Her tears of joy bring his vision back, and they go together to his kingdom.

APA Reference:

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

My Impressions:
This is a classic story that has been retold many, many times over the years. This was a version of it that I had never heard. The mother’s craving for the Rapunzel plant was something I do not recall hearing of before, as well as the prince being pushed from the tower and blinded. It was a very interesting story, and I think it would be interesting even to children who have heard the story before, since it is a little different than most versions of Rapunzel. The illustrations are lovely and very detailed. The artist’s style suits the story very well because of its detail and formality; the illustrations have a sort of “old-world” feel. The artist is also excellent at conveying moods in his characters with their posture and facial expressions. Between the lovely illustrations and the story, this is a book that children will enjoy over and over again. While they may miss some of the more “mature” themes (such as why her dress is too tight), this should not detract from their ability to enjoy the book.

Professional Review:
Reduced to its plot, the story of "Rapunzel" is the ultimate melodrama: a hapless child, because of her mother's longing for a particular herb, is given to a sorceress to be raised in a formidable tower until an undaunted prince breaches the defenses. Pregnant, she is banished; he is blinded by a fall. Both must wander through a desolate wilderness until their final triumphant reunion. But, as Zelinsky's extensive notes reveal, the tale is far more than a folktale version of a long-running soap opera. Dating back to Basile's Il Pentamerone (1637), it underwent several meta-morphoses before being included by the Brothers Grimm in the first edition of their Household Stories (1812). Various retellers obviously knew a good story when they found one-and "Rapunzel," with its roots in the human psyche, is all of that. But it takes a scholar's mind and an artist's insight to endow the familiar with unexpected nuances-which Zelinsky does with passion and dazzling technique. Given the story's Italian origins, his choice of a Renaissance setting is inspired, allowing for many allusions to the art and architecture of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries. Yet these are not slavish imitations of masterpieces; rather, he has assimilated the sources and transformed them, giving depth to the characters and endowing the story with an aura of otherworldiness that enlarges upon the historical references. There is both love and menace in the sorceress's face; the landscape through which Rapunzel and the prince wander is both beautiful and desolate. Simply put, this is a gorgeous book; it demonstrates respect for the traditions of painting and the fairy tale while at the same time adhering to a singular, wholly original, artistic vision.Most of the books are recommended; all of them are subject to the qualifications in the notes. [*] indicates a book that the majority of reviewers believe to be an outstanding example of its genre, of books of this particular publishing season, or of the author's body of work.~~~~~~~~By Mary M. Burns

(1998, January/February) [Review of the book Rapunzel by P. Zelinsky]. Horn Book Magazine, 74, 1, p. 85.

Library uses: a librarian could use this book in a display of fairy tale books, especially including different versions of the same story. Librarians could encourage readers to try different versions of the same story to see all the different ways it has been written over the years.