Traditional Literature Review #3- RAPUNZEL

 

Rapunzel by Paul O. Zelinsky

1.     BIBLIOGRAPHY

Zelinsky, Paul O. Rapunzel. New York: Dutton Children's Books, 1997. 

ISBN 978-0-525-45607-0

2.     PLOT SUMMARY

Rapunzel begins with a couple who find that they are expecting a child.  The wife is suddenly overwhelmed by a craving for rapunzel, an herb that grows in the walled garden of the sorceress next door.  To help his wife’s cravings, the husband steals rapunzel from this garden, only to be caught in the act by the angry sorceress.  In return for sparing his life she demands that the husband promise her the newborn child, whom she will name Rapunzel.  What follows is the well known story of a long haired girl kept in a tall tower, and a prince who finds her and wins her heart.

3.      CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Paul Zelinsky retells the story of Rapunzel in a beautifully illustrated picture book. The detailed pictures that depict the characters and the background give the feeling of the Renaissance era. The landscapes, the beautiful tower, the people, and the background marble wall help readers connect to the Renaissance times. Even though the sorceress in this story is an evil character, you get the feeling that she is trying to protect Rapunzel from the outside world. Unbeknownst to the sorceress, Rapunzel meets a prince in the tower and they get married.  The fact that Rapunzel gets pregnant might raise questions from young children. This might start a “where do babies come from?” talk.  Though it will be enjoyed by all age groups of readers, this story may not be appropriate for very young children. This is a well written retelling of the age old fairy tale of Rapunzel.  Like all fairy tales, this story has a happy ending with Rapunzel going back to the kingdom with the prince and the twins and living happily ever after.

4.  REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Caldecott Medal – 1998

ALA Notable Children’s Books – 1998

School Library Journal Best Book – 1997

From School Library Journal: “An elegant and sophisticated retelling that draws on early French and Italian versions of the tale. Masterful oil paintings capture the Renaissance setting and flesh out the tragic figures.”

From Publisher’s Weekly:  “A breathtaking interpretation gives the fairy tale new art-historical roots, with illustrations that daringly-and effectively-mimic the masters of Italian Renaissance painting.”

5.     CONNECTIONS

Try some read-a-like books such as:

Hansel and Gretel, ISBN: 978-0-525-46152-4

Snow White, ISBN: 978-0-679-82656-9

Talk with children about fairy tales and which ones they might be familiar with.  Talk to them how the stories make them feel (frightened, happy, sad, angry, etc).

Explain to children that sometimes fairy tales include a bad character who does mean things to the other characters in the stories. Have children describe this character in the tales they are familiar with.

Traditional Literature Review #2 - THE THREE PIGS

 The Three Pigs by David Wiesner

1.     BIBLIOGRAPHY

Wiesner, David. The Three Pigs. New York: Clarion Books, 2001.  ISBN 978-0-618-00701-1

2.     PLOT SUMMARY

The Three Pigs is a re-telling of the classic The Three Little Pigs with a twist.  It begins by following the traditional story, with the wolf knocking on each pig's door and threatening to blow their house in and eat them. However, each pig cleverly escapes the wrath of the wolf by exiting the story itself.  They went exploring and landed upon the nursery rhyme of Hey diddle diddle.  They left there and went to another story to save a dragon who was hiding a golden rose and was about to be slayed. They return to the original story with their new friends to be approached by the wolf who threatens to blow the brick house down.

3.      CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This Caldecott winner is an example of the very creative writing of David Wiesner and very imaginative illustrations. He starts out telling a traditional tale and quickly grabs the attention of the reader as the story unfolds in a very non-traditional manner. The writing is creative, but the illustrations really make this book a great work of art. Some of the pictures actually seem to be coming off of the page. The art work captures a life like quality as the pigs and the dragon come to life.  When one of the pigs peeks through the pages and tells the other pig “Come on- it’s safe out here” was one of my favorite lines.  Even the use of 2 blank pages in the story was brilliant after the pigs fly off on a paper airplane. The writing also takes on a different approach with the use of bubbles for dialogue similar to that of a graphic novel.

4.  REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Caldecott Medal – 2002

ALA Notable Children’s Books – 2002

School Library Journal Best Book – 2001

From School Library Journal: “Artwork explodes off the page and the layout pushes bookmaking convention as the porcine siblings and their pals explore new literary territory.”

From Publisher’s Weekly:  “Wiesner's brilliant use of white space and perspective (as the pigs fly to the upper right-hand corner of a spread on their makeshift plane, or as one pig's snout dominates a full page) evokes a feeling that the characters can navigate endless possibilities.”

5.     CONNECTIONS

Gather other David Wiesner Caldecott Medal books to read such as:

Flotsam, ISBN: 978-0-618-19457-5

Tuesday, ISBN: 978-0-395-87082-2

Compare and contrast familiar fairy tales with their variants. Depending on the book, comparisons can be drawn in terms of characters, themes, settings, and plots.  Some examples are:

Cinders: a chicken Cinderella, ISBN: 978-0-399-25783-4

Little Red Writing, ISBN: 978-0-811-87869-2

The Gingerbread Cowboy, ISBN: 978-0-060-77863-7

Traditional Literature Review #1- THE FOUR GALLANT SISTERS

The Four Gallant Sisters by Eric A. Kimmel, Illustrations by Tatyana Yuditskaya 

1.     BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kimmel, Eric A. The Four Gallant Sister. Adapted from the Brothers Grimms. Illustrated by Tatyana Yuditskaya. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1992.  ISBN 978-0-805-01901-8

2.     PLOT SUMMARY

The Four Gallant Sisters is a feminist story about four sisters who take off in the world dressed as men to find work after their mother has passed away.  They agree to meet back up at their mother’s grave in seven years.  The eldest sister becomes a tailor, the second sister becomes a hunter, the third sister becomes a magician, and the fourth sister becomes an astronomer.  The King’s mother, for some reason, think that these men are women and try to convince her son that that are not men.  The women set out to save the King’s intended princess from a dragon.  They successfully save her with the help of the princess’ brothers.  It is finally revealed that they are in fact women and they end up marrying the princess’ brothers.  The story ends with the King’s mother being the happiest because she was right all along.

3.      CRITICAL ANALYSIS

I found this story started off to be an excellent example of feminism but failed at the end to keep this story true.  These women set out to do a man’s job and they were successful.  They even slayed a dragon to save a princess.  Everyone loves a happy ending which this book gives, but at the expense of the women who marry the princess’ brothers.  They went from being strong women capable of holding men’s jobs to being picked by men to marry.  This book is for an older elementary age because of the subject matter and more difficult writing level.

The illustrations are the best part of this book. I do not know much about art but each drawing is so full of color and detail that it takes awhile to take it all in.  The artist based his pictures off of sixteenth-century Flemish and Spanish paintings. In reading some other reviews of this book, people were negative about the illustrations because they thought the women were posturing in the drawings, but I did not think that was the case. 

4.  REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

From Kirkus: “Yuditskaya, a recent Russian emigrant, depicts this good-humored update in an opulent Renaissance setting with glowing theatrical backgrounds and figures detailed in vigorously telling line.”

From Publisher’s Weekly: “Kimmel's engrossing adaptation, while deftly told, is guilty of some reverse sexism.”

5. CONNECTIONS

Gather other Eric Kimmel books to read such as:

Little Red Hot,  ISBN:  978-1-477-81638-7

The Great Texas Hamster Drive, ISBN:

978-0-761-45357-4

A good activity would be to discover which Brothers Grim tales that this book derived from and read them also.