Title: Rapunzel
Illustrator: Paul O. Zelinsky
Readability score: Third grade
Genre: Fiction
Sub genre: Fantasy
Theme: to have selfish love for something can be disastrous
Primary and secondary characters: The primary character is Rapunzel. The secondary characters are Rapunzel's parents, the sorceress, the Prince's son, and their two children.
Awards: Caldecott
Publishing company: Dutton Children's Books, New York
Date of publication: 1997
ISBN number: 0-525-45607-4
Summary: Rapunzel is the story of a couple who becomes pregnant and the woman becomes obsessed with the rapunzel that is growing in the sorceress' garden next door. The wife sends her husband over to collect the rapunzel daily until the sorceress' catches him. She tells him he can take some, but she demands their unborn child in return. The husband, terrified, agrees to the deal and brings the wife the rapunzel. After the baby is born, the sorceress takes the baby and names her Rapunzel. She raises her and makes her grow her hair out long. She traps Rapunzel in a large tower and asks her to throw down her hair each time she wants to come and go. Rapunzel sings to the birds everyday, and one day a Prince's son hears her voice and falls in love. He sees how the sorceress comes and goes into the tower, so he decides to climb up her hair and see her. They eventually get married, but he must leave every night so that the sorceress does not spot him. However, she finds out when Rapunzel becomes pregnant and so she cuts off her hair and isolates Rapunzel out into the woods. The prince is tricked by the sorceress one day when he thinks that she has her hair down for him, but it is really a trick. She blinds him by causing him to fall, almost to his death. The prince wanders out into the forest, where he eventually comes across Rapunzel and their two children. She is so happy to see him that her tears of joy fall on his eyes and cause his sight to reappear. They live happily ever after after they return to his kingdom.
This is an award winning book that takes the story of Rapunzel back to it's original storyline. There are so many stories and even movies out there that depict the story as completely different. I have never read this version before. I would use this book as a fun type of reading for my students. Since it's a Caldecott winner, they could choose it off a list of other books to read for any programs that are in place. They could also choose it for an independent reading choice.
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