Rapunzel

Rapunzel

Retold & Illustrated by: Paul O. Zelinsky

Puffin Books 1997

ISBN 0142301930

A long time ago a couple longed to have a baby. When the wife realized she was pregnant she was overjoyed. The couple’s house overlooked a walled garden owned by a sorceress. One day the woman had a craving for rapunzel. This craving became so strong that she told her husband “If I cannot eat some of the rupunzel from the garden behind our house, I am going to die.” So, the woman’s husband snuck into the garden and stole as much rupunzel as he could carry. The woman ate every last bit of it, but it only made her craving worse. The next time the husband climbed into the garden the sorceress caught him stealing her rapunzel. The husband explained why he was stealing from her, so as punishment she told him he must give her the child his wife would have. The husband agreed and when the child was born the sorceress took the baby girl and named her Rapunzel. The baby grew to be a beautiful young woman. The sorceress locked Rapunzel in a tower when she was twelve. The only way into the tower was through a window at the top. The sorceress would call “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair,” and then she would climb up. One day a prince was riding by the tower when he heard Rapunzel singing. He fell in love with her and rode by the tower every day. One day he saw the sorceress walk up to the tower, call to Rapunzel, and climb up to the top. The next day, the prince rode up to the tower, called to Rapunzel, and climbed up to the top. Rapunzel and the prince fell in love, but when the sorceress discovered this she cut off Rapunzel’s hair and sent her to a wild country. The next time the prince came to the tower the sorceress tricked the prince into climbing up to the top of the tower. She then told him that Rapunzel was “lost to him forever.” The prince was so shocked that he let go of the hair and fell to the ground. When the prince fell, he did not die but he lost his eyesight. He then wandered around the wilderness grieving for Rapunzel. Then, one day he happens upon Rapunzel. Her tears of joy return his eyesight and the prince realized they were right outside of his kingdom. They lived happily ever after with their two children.

Paul O. Zelinsky beautifully recreates the classic tale of Rapunzel. He continues the fairy tale tradition by setting the story long ago and ending it “they lived a long life, happy and content.” He also creates a dynamic character in the sorceress. Is she really evil or lonely, hurt and betrayed? The illustrations are realistic and detailed. They enhance the story in various parts such as when the prince is wandering in the wilderness. The reader can find the prince in four different parts of the wilderness on one page.

Winner of the Caldecott Medal in 1998.

Horn Book Magazine: “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” (Burns).

This story could be used for a compare and contrast assignment. For younger audiences, I would compare it will Falling for Rapunzel by Leah Wilcox (ISBN 9780142403990). For older audiences, I would have the students compare it to Golden: A Retelling of Rapunzel by Cameron Dokey (ISBN 9781416939269).

Works Cited:

Burns, Mary M. "Rapunzel." Horn Book Magazine 74.1 (1998): 85-86. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 30 Sept. 2010.