Rapunzel

by Paul O Zelinsky
Published by Dutton's Children's Books
Copyright 1997

Summary: A retelling of the German folklore in which a beautiful girl with long golden hair is kept imprisoned in a lonely tower by a sorceress.

Strengths: The illustrations are extremely detailed with lots of vivid colors. Alot of the pages have the text one one side with the picture on the other emphasizing it. The colors displayed in the illustrations do a good job enforcing night time and day time settings.

Concerns: I personally did not like this version of the story. I felt it was more violent especially when the prince is thrown off the tower and becomes blind. His blindness is cured from one of Rapunzel's tears which is extremely unrealistic. This version also seems to tie in an Adam and Eve aspect when Rapunzel's mother eats the rapunzel food from the sorceress's garden anyway when told not too. In consequence, her child is given to the sorceress as she continues to eat the rapunzel.

Age level: Elementary, Upper