Rapunzel as retold  and illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky
Published 1997 by Dutton Children's Books
ISBN 0525456074 (ISBN13: 9780525456070)

Plot Summary: A couple discovers they are expecting and they are overjoyed.  The husband wishes to do anything he can to please his wife but she is craving the herb rapunzel that grows behind an evil witches walled garden.  He wants to make his wife happy so he sneaks over the fence to the garden to get the repunzel to satiate his wife.  The evil witch catches the husband as a thief and in return for the wifes and babies life she bargains to keep the baby.  The husband obliges.  The evil witch takes Repunzel when she is born and raises her and locks her in a tower.  A prince hears her singing and fell deeply in love with her.  They get marreid in the tower in secret but as soon as the witch finds out Repunzel is pregnant she banishes her never to see the prince again.  Fate and goodness prevail and Repunzel is reunited with her love.
Critical Analysis:  Paul O Zelinsky uses a mix of the Brother’s Grimm fairytale Repunzel and the french telling of Persinette.  The characters are that of a expected fairytale.  Repunzel is a fair Maiden locked away by no fault of her own by the ugly evil witch.  The setting is Italian Renaissance oil paintings that are beautiful and set the scene perfect throughout the story.  The illustrations show how impeniterable the tower is and the beauty of the gardens in that the witch keeps her repunzel. The theme of Repunzel is that love can conquer over evil.  The story ends in perfect fairy tale fashion where the family will live happily ever after.  There is a clearly formulated beginning middle and end that flows with the expectation in a fairy tale for good to triumph over evil.  The spoken language may be difficult for some young readers with some big vocabulary but this offers an amazing chance for them to write down some words they don’t know and learn them.  It was a lovely story to read aloud.  My 1st-grade daughter was able to follow the story and even if we came across a word she didn’t understand the pictures helped give her the clues she needed to appreciate the story.




Literary Awards
Caldecott Medal (1998)


KIRKUS REVIEWS called the art "grandly evocative, composed and executed with superb technical and emotional command."

THE HORN BOOK said, "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."

Connections:

Pull other books retold and illustrated by Paul O Zelinsky:
Rumpelstilzchen  ISBN:0140558640 
The Lion and the Stoat ISBN: 0395551609
Knick Knack Paddywhack )ISBN 0525469087 

Compare Persinette, the Maiden in the Tower: The Classic French 'Rapunzel' Fairytale
by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force, Rachel Louise Lawrence to Rapunzel as retold  and illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky

Look up the herbs Rapunzel, Rampion (English) and Pasley (France) the herbs that the wives in the tales were craving.  Get samples of the herbs if you can for the students to try (with parent’s permission).

Dramatize the story with puppets: mother, father, witch, Rapunzel, prince, and twins

Design your own tower using another art history or another source from a different countries architecture.


Show Italian Renaissance art to the students that inspired the oil paintings of this book.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Scorpio Races

Image
The Scorpio Races Bibliographic Information: Stiefvater, Maggie.  The Scorpio Races . New York: Scholastic, 2013. Plot Summary:   Every November the Scorpio races take place.   Tourists come from all over to the island of Thisby to watch riders mount their capaill uisce, magical water horses, and try to survive and win the Scorpio Races.   These water horses are deadly.   Their magic pulls them to the ocean where they want to take their mounts and drown them in the sea. The Scorpio Races are dangerous. Sean Kendrick watched his father die on a capaill uisce, and it is now his turn to race to win the water horse, Coll, that he has raised since it was a baby.   Since Sean lost his dad, he has been working for the Malverns to raise and breed horses.   Sean is known on the island for his unique abilities to deal with the capaill uisce.   Tensions rise between Kendrick and Malvern's son who is jealous of Sean.   Mr. Malvern makes a deal with Sean that if he wins on
Read more
Image
The Invention of Hugo Cabret: Book Review Bibliographic Information: Selznick, Brian. The Invention of Hugo Cabret. New York: Scholastic, 2007.   ISBN 0439819813786 Plot Summary: Hugo lives in the walls of a Paris train station in which he takes care of the clocks.   Stealthy Hugo must do what he has to in able to survive.   Hugo has one hope left: to repair an automated man that he believes may have a message from his late father.   With the help of a young girl, Hugo uncovers more secrets than he anticipated in this mysterious tale. Critical Analysis: The beginning of the book instantly takes you to a clear night in Paris.   The illustrations bring you to a bustling train station and introduce you to the stealthy Hugo.   Hugo sneaks his way around the station to his hiding place behind the walls.   The black and white illustrations set the mysterious mood and historical setting of 1930’s Paris.   The pictures help narrate the story as you follow Hugo on his jour
Read more
Image
Down Down Down a Journey to the Bottom of the Sea  By Steve Jenkins ISBN  0544709519 Bibliographical Information: Jenkins, Steve.  Down, Down, Down A Journey to the Bottom of the Sea . Boston New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016. ISBN 0544709519. Plot Summary: In this book, Steve Jenkins takes us on a trip to the very bottom of the ocean.  “More humans have walked on the moon than have visited the deepest spot in the sea. (p.1, Jenkins)”.  Readers are taken on a visually stunning journey from the surface of the ocean down to the lowest depth.  Young readers can see what animals look like at each depth and what part of the ocean they are at on a scale at the side of each page.   Jenkins states in his introduction “In this book, we’ll descend from the sea’s surface to the sea floor and travel through one of the most extreme environments on earth.”  And what a journey it is! Critical analysis: Let’s talk about accuracy for a moment.  I am not a marine biologist or oc
Read more