Module 6: A Bad Case of Stripes

A Bad Case of Stripes
by David Shannon

Book Summary:

Camilla Cream is about to start back to school after summer break, but she has a small problem: her skin has broken out in stripes! Camilla is extremely distressed by her strange appearance and her mother allows her to stay home. The doctor concludes that she is not contagious and should return to school the next day. Unfortunately, Camilla’s condition seems to be quite impressionable and as students call her names such as checkerboard and purple lollipop, her skins morphs to match. Specialists are called in and Camilla’s transformation continues resulting in her growing roots, berries, feathers, crystals, and even a tail – all multi-colored. It appears that the more that Camilla denies who she really is, and what she really loves (lima beans), the more she loses herself. When Camilla finally accepts that she is different than everyone else and is not embarrassed by her love for lima beans she is able to return to her normal appearance.

Shannon, D. (1998). A bad case of the stripes. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc.

My impressions:

I thought this was a great story about peer pressure and not being afraid to be different. The illustrations were beautiful, full of bright colors and intricate details and captured the emotions of the story in a delightful way.  I would use this story in an advisory lesson about diversity and not being afraid to be different, whether that means you like lima beans and everyone else hates them, or if you look differently than everyone else.

Professional review:

Camilla, who loves lima beans but won't eat them because it's not cool, finds that deferring to others isn't all it's cracked up to be. In fact, her desire to please and be popular causes her some spectacular problems: she suddenly breaks out in stripes, then stars, then turns "purple polka-dotty" at the behest of a delighted classmate. Her weird mutations, which stymie doctors and send the media into a frenzy, become more and more extreme until she finally blends into the walls of her room-her lips the red-blanketed mattress on her bed, her eyes the paintings on the wall. Will she never be herself again? Shannon's over-the-top art is sensational, an ingenious combination of the concrete and the fantastic that delivers more than enough punch to make up for the somewhat heavy hand behind the story, and as usual, his wonderfully stereotypic characters are unforgettable. The pictures are probably enough to attract young browsers (Camilla in brilliant stripped glory graces the jacket), and the book's irony and wealth of detail may even interest readers in higher grades. Try this for leading into a discussion on being different.

Zvirin, S. (1998, January 1). [Review of the book A bad case of stripes, by D. Shannon]. Booklist, 94(9), 
       825. Retrieved from http://www.booklistonline.com

Library Uses:

This book is an excellent choice for story time with younger students. The illustrations are colorful and express the emotions of Camilla in an honest way that brings the pages of the story to life. After reading the story I would discuss with students the importance of accepting themselves for who they are, even if they are different from their peers. I would encourage students to share ways in which they are different from their peers and how they can be proud of their differences.

As a supplemental fun activity after the story and discussion, students could get their faces painted, to express that it’s ok to be different, just like Camilla. They could get stripes, checkerboard patterns, whatever they wish – as long as no two students have their faces painted the same way!

Module 5: Monster

Monster
by Walter Dean Myers

Book Summary:
Sixteen-year old Steve Harmon is on trial as an accomplice to felony murder in Walter Dean Myer’s novel, Monster.  Steve is an aspiring film maker and generally good kid trying to stay out of trouble on the streets of Harlem. After a drug store owner is killed in a robbery gone wrong, Steve is accused of being the lookout. The trial is told from Steve’s viewpoint and is written in the form of a screenplay with occasional journal entries.

As the story unfolds, we learn how the robbery took place, how scary life in prison can be for a young man, and the extremes convicted inmates will go to in order to reduce their sentences or attain a plea bargain. It is unclear whether Steve was actually involved in the robbery or just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, as his attorney claims. At the end of the novel, we see Steve’s innocence has been stolen and he is struggling with how to deal with the fact that no one, not even his own family views him the same any longer. He is struggling with whether or not he truly is a Monster, just as the prosecutor accused, and if that is all other people see when they look at him.

Myers, W. D. (1999). Monster. New York, N.Y: HarperCollins Publishers.

My impression:
This book had a dark tone throughout, which was fitting for a novel portraying the life of a sixteen-year old facing felony murder charges. The screenplay format was difficult for me to read at first, but the story line and my curiosity over whether Steve was involved or not helped me to press through until I eventually became accustomed to the format. Myers describes life in prison in a way that convinced me it was somewhere I would never want to be. I think this book would be a perfect choice for students who have a bright future ahead of them and a lot of potential but are not choosing their friends wisely or are beginning to head in the wrong direction.

Professional Reviews:
Arrested and charged with murder, sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon is writing a screenplay of his ordeal. Interspersed with his handwritten journal entries, Steve's script makes up a novel that in both form and subject guarantees a wide teen audience. Balancing courtroom drama and a sordid jailhouse setting with flashbacks to the robbery that resulted in a shopkeeper's murder, Myers adeptly allows each character to speak for him or herself, leaving readers to judge for themselves the truthfulness of the defendants, witnesses, lawyers, and, most compellingly, Steve himself. Did Steve serve as a lookout for the robbery? Was he in the store at all? Through all the finessing and obfuscation of the trial process, readers will find plenty of evidence for a variety of conflicting opinions. Even the cri de coeur in Steve's journal leaves plenty of room for interpretation: "I didn't do nothing! I didn't do nothing!" Tailor-made for readers' theater, this book is a natural to get teens reading — and talking.


Sutton, R. (1999, May/June). [Review of the book Monster, by W.D. Myers and C. Myers].
       Horn Book Magazine 75(3), 337. Retrieved from http://www.hbook.com

Library Uses:
Before reading Monster, students could complete a librarian created webquest to build background knowledge on Harlem, statistics on robbery/murders, information about prisons, and the laws in your state regarding minors being tried as adults. At the end of the webquest students could submit a blog entry discussing their thoughts on how they would handle being accused of being an accomplice to a robbery turned murder.

Module 5: Bud, Not Buddy

Bud, Not Buddy
by Christopher Paul Curtis

Book Summary:
Bud, Not Buddy is an exciting tale about Bud Caldwell, a ten year old orphan, living in Michigan during the Great Depression. Bud became an orphan at the age of six when his mother died. As the story opens Bud receives the news that he has been placed in a new foster home with a family who has a twelve year old son, Todd. Todd is a mean bully and after sticking a pencil up Bud’s nose proceeds to fight him. When the boys are caught fighting by Todd’s mother, Todd blames the entire incident on Bud. Bud is then banished to the shed outside where his imagination gets the best of him and he fears for his life when spotting what he believes to be vampire bats. The vampire bats turn out to be hornets and Bud is stung numerous times causing him to lose his balance and cut himself on mounted fish heads in the shed.

Exasperated by this experience, Bud escapes the shed, exacts revenge on Todd and goes “on the lam.” Next Bud decides to track down Herman E. Calloway, who he believes is his father based on several brochures he has from his mother that feature Herman and his band, The Dusky Devastators of the Depression. Along his way Bud meets a man who he at first believes to be a vampire, Lefty Lewis, but  Lefty turns out to be a friendly old man with a sharp sense of humor who helps Bud reach Mr. Calloway.

Herman E. Calloway is not to happy to have Bud around and doesn’t believe there is any way he could be his father, seeing as how he is so much older than Bud. The lead singer of The Dusky Devastators convinces the band to take Bud in for awhile and eventually a special rock with a location written on it helps Bud and Herman figure out their relationship and how they both knew Bud’s mother.

Curtis, C. P. (1999). Bud, not Buddy. New York, NY: Delacorte Press.

My impression:
I fell in love with this light-hearted story. Bud is instantly likable and his innocence and imagination captured my attention immediately. I chuckled over his “rules on how to have a funner life and be a better liar” and empathized with his longing to know his father and the terrible void that was left by his beloved mother’s death. Christopher Paul Curtis did an excellent job of sneaking in details about The Great Depression and hints about what life was like for African Americans during the 1930’s. This story will resonate with readers young and old.

Professional Reviews:
In a story that's as far-fetched as it is irresistible, and as classic as it is immediate, a deserving orphan boy finds a home. It's the Depression, and Bud (not Buddy) is ten and has been on his own since his mother died when he was six. In and out of the Flint, Michigan, children's home and foster homes ever since, Bud decides to take off and find his father after a particularly terrible, though riotously recounted, evening with his latest foster family. Helped only by a few clues his mother left him, and his own mental list of "Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself," Bud makes his way to a food pantry, then to the library to do some research (only to find that his beloved librarian, one Charlemae Rollins, has moved to Chicago), and finally to the local Hooverville where he just misses hopping a freight to Chicago. Undaunted, he decides to walk to Grand Rapids, where he hopes his father, the bandleader Herman E. Calloway, will be. Lefty Lewis, the kindly union man who gives Bud a lift, is not the first benevolent presence to help the boy on his way, nor will he be the last. There's a bit of the Little Rascals in Bud, and a bit more of Shirley Temple as his kind heart and ingenuous ways bring tears to the eyes of the crustiest of old men--not his father, but close enough. But Bud's fresh voice keeps the sentimentality to a reasonable simmer, and the story zips along in step with Bud's own panache.

Sutton, R. (1999, Nov. 1). [Review of the book Bud, not Buddy, by C.P. Curtis]. Horn Book Magazine
       75(6), 737. Retrieved from http://www.hbook.com

Gr 4-7 --When 10.year-old Bud Caldwell runs away from his new foster home, he realizes he has nowhere to go but to search for the father he has never known: a legendary jazz musician advertised on some old posters his deceased mother had kept. A friendly stranger picks him up on the road in the middle of the night and deposits him in Grand Rapids, MI, with Herman E. Calloway and his jazz Band, but the man Bud was convinced was his father turns out to be old, cold, and cantankerous. Luckily, the band members are more welcoming; they take him in, put him to work, and begin to teach him to play an instrument. In a Victorian ending, Bud uses the rocks he has treasured from his childhood to prove his surprising relationship with Mr. Calloway. The lively humor contrasts with the grim details of the Depression-era setting and the particular difficulties faced by African Americans at that time. Bud is a plucky, engaging protagonist. Other characters are exaggerations: the good ones (the librarian and Pullman car porter who help him on his journey and the band members who embrace him) are totally open and supportive, while the villainous foster family finds particularly imaginative ways to torture their charge. However, readers will be so caught up in the adventure that they won't mind. Curtis has given a fresh, new look to a traditional orphan-finds-a-home story that would be a crackerjack read-aloud.

Isaacs, K. (1999, Sep. 1). [Review of the book Bud, not Buddy, by C.P. Curtis]. School Library Journal
       45(9), 221. Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com

Library Uses:  
Bud has made a list of rules he lives by called “Bud Caldwell’s Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself” As an introduction to the novel, the teacher-librarian could have several of Bud’s rules printed on posters as discussion starters for students. Students could then brainstorm their own rules to live by and give them a catchy title, just as Bud did. After brainstorming, students could collaborate in groups of 3 to 4 to create posters to hang around the library. 


In Chapter 8 of the book Bud and Bugs are going to ride the rails out West. The teacher librarian could begin a discussion on The Great Depression and how common it was to ride the rails. Students could watch the PBS video, Riding the Rails (The American History Project/Out of the Blue Productions, Inc.) for background information about hitching rides on trains. After watching the video, students could write a letter from Bugs to Bud telling him how he is doing and what life is like riding the rails.

Module 4: The Giver

The Giver
by Lois Lowry

Book Summary:
The Giver is a dystopian novel told from the point of view of Jonas, an eleven year old about to receive his Assignment (job) at the Ceremony of Twelve. Jonas lives in a community where everyone is the same to avoid the suffering of life. However, in order to be spared this suffering much had to be given up, such as colors, feelings of love (both romantic and familial) and free choice. Jonas’s assignment is to be the next Receiver of Memory, the person in the community who holds all the memories of the past, in order to help the elders make difficult decisions they may lack the understanding to make.

As Jonas receives the memories of the past from The Giver he begins to change. He learns the truths of the community, like that “release” is euthanasia of the old, undesirable new children, and members of the community who have broken rules three times. Jonas learns of past tragedies such as wars, loss, natural disasters and feelings of despair. However, he also receives the pleasant memories such as feelings of love, pleasure, and what it means to be a family.

The breaking point for Jonas is when he realizes that a baby his father has brought home from the nurturing center for extra attention will be released. Only Jonas really knows what this means, and because himself and the Giver are the only members of the community who are able to feel any emotions, he is grieved by this reality with no one to turn to who understands. Jonas decides to run away with Gabriel to save his life and to release the memories of the community back to them. The ending leaves you wondering if sameness will be a thing of the past because of Jonas’s escape or if he and Gabriel made it to another community that did not succumb to the idea of sameness generations ago.

Lowry, L. (1993). The giver. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

My impressions:
This was a very thought provoking novel and I couldn’t put it down once I began reading. I was overwhelmed with the thoughts of a life without emotions or choices and I realized that without tragedy there could be no joys. The topics of euthanasia, diversity, acceptance, and emotions were very well portrayed by Lowery and could provide for excellent Socratic seminar discussions with middle school honors students. 

Professional reviews:

Gr 6-9--In a complete departure from her other novels, Lowry has written an intriguing story set in a society that is uniformly run by a Committee of Elders. Twelve-year-old Jonas’s confidence in his comfortable “normal” existance as a member of this well-ordered community is shaken when he is assigned his life’s work as the Receiver. The Giver, who passes on to Jonas the burden of being the holder for the community of all memory “back and back and back,” teaches him the cost of living in an environment that is without “color, pain, or past.” The tension leading up to the Ceremony, in which children are promoted not to another grade but to another stage in their life, and the drama and responsibility of the sessions with The Giver are gripping. The final flight for survival is as riveting as it is inevitable. The author makes real abstract concepts, such as the meaning of life in which there are virtually no choices to be made and no experiences with deep feelings. This tightly plotted story and its believable characters will stay with readers for a long time.

Kellman, A. (1993, May 1). [Review of the book The giver, by L. Lowry]. School Library Journal 39(5), 124.
       Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com

Library Uses:
Because of the controversial nature of this book and it’s placement on several banned books lists, the librarian could display it during banned books week and promote it with a book trailer during this time. I would also recommend this book for literature circles, as opposed to whole class study. Students could create memory books as a supplemental activity to the novel and include memories of either their own life or memories that they think would be important for a Receiver to have.

Module 4: Maniac Magee

Maniac Magee

 by Jerry Spinelli

Book Summary:
Maniac Magee is the tale of Jeffrey “Maniac” Magee who was orphaned at a young age after his parents his were killed in a train accident. He was sent to live with his Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan in the “house of two toasters.” The house is unbearable because Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan can’t stand each other and eventually stop speaking to each other. They also refuse to share their belongings with each other. Jeffrey becomes so distraught in this situation that he runs away in the middle of a school musical. He is on the road for a year and ends up in Two Mills, Pennsylvania.

Two Mills is a town that is racially segregated with black people living on the East side of Hector Street and white people living on the West side of Hector Street. On his way into town Jeffrey meets Amanda Beale and then proceeds to have a series of small adventures by accomplishing memorable feats that were otherwise thought to be  impossible in the eyes of the town’s children. Because of his achievements, Jeffrey becomes a local legend and earns the nickname “Maniac.”

Maniac is oblivious to the pandemonium he is causing all around him and befriends all who he encounters, regardless of race. After rescuing Amanda from the local bully, he becomes the Beale’s houseguest and enjoys the time spent with a loving family. Unfortunately the Beales are an African American family and the other citizens of the East End do not approve of Maniac’s presence and make trouble for the Beales. Not wanting to cause any more trouble for the Beale family, Maniac runs away again. He ends up at the zoo where he meets Earl Grayson, the groundskeeper. Maniac and Grayson forge a strong friendship and Maniac begins to feel like he has found a home with Grayson, until Grayson dies in his sleep one night. Maniac is next housed by the McNabbs, in the worst of conditions. Mr. McNabb is somewhat crazy, if not only paranoid, about the East Enders planning an attack on the West Enders. Maniac stays with the McNabbs because he is concerned for Piper and Russell McNabb and tries to keep them going to school. Eventually Maniac becomes homeless again after bringing Mars Bars back to a party at the McNabbs.

Several weeks later Mars Bars ends up rescuing Russell McNabb from the train tracks and a truce of sorts begins to be forged between the East and West Ends. Amanda Beale is led to Maniac by Mars Bars and she convinces him to come back home to the Beale house where he belongs.

Spinelli, J. (1990). Maniac Magee: A novel. Boston, MA: Little, Brown.

My impressions:
I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the adventures of Maniac Magee. Jerry Spinelli does an artful job of tackling tough issues such as racism, segregation, and homelessness in a way that is approachable and appropriate for adolescent audiences. I love that Maniac gave no mind to the color of anyone’s skin, and treated everyone in the best way he could, no matter how ugly they were to him. The legacy that Maniac leaves behind on the town of Two Mills is an important theme throughout the book and would be an excellent discussion starter in a classroom.

Professional reviews:

Gr 6-10--Warning: this interesting book is a mythical story about racism. It should not be read as reality. Legend springs up about Jeffrey "Maniac" Magee, a white boy who runs faster and hits balls farther than anyone, who lives on his own with amazing grace, and is innocent as to racial affairs. After running away from a loveless home, he encounters several families, in and around TWo Mills, a town sharply divided into the black East End and the white West End. Black, feisty Amanda Beale and her family lovingly open their home to Maniac, and tough, smart-talking "Mars Bar" Thompson and other characters are all, to varying degrees, full of prejudices and unaware of their own racism. Racial epithets are sprinkled throught the book; Mars Bar calls Maniac "fishbelly," and blacks are described by a white character as being "today's Indians." In the final, disjointed section of the book, Maniac confronts the hatred that perpetuates ignorance by bringing Mars Bar to meet the Pickwells--"the best the West End had to offer." In the feel-good ending, Mars and Maniac resolve their differences; Maniac gets a home and there is hope for at least improved racial relations. Unreal.? Yes. It' s a cop-out for Spinelli to have framed this story as a legend--it frees him from having to make it real, or even possible. Nevertheless, the book will stimulate thinking about racism, and it might help educate those readers who, like so many students, have no first-hand knowledge of people of other races. Pathos and compassion inform a short, relatively easy-to-read story with broad appeal, which suggests that to solve problems of racism, people must first know each other as individuals.
 
Shoemaker, J. (1990, June). [Review of the book Maniac Magee, by J. Spinelli]. School Library Journal 
       36(6), 138. Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com

In this modern-day tall tale, Spinelli (Dump Days; Jason and Marceline) presents a humorous yet poignant look at the issue of race relations, a rare topic for a work aimed at middle readers. Orphaned as an infant, Jerry Magee is reared by his feuding aunt and uncle until he runs away at age eight. He finds his way to Two Mills, Pa., where the legend of "Maniac" Magee begins after he scores major upsets against Brian Denehy, the star high school football player, and Little League tough guy, John McNab. In racially divided Two Mills, the Beales, a black family, take Maniac in, but despite his local fame, community pressure forces him out and he returns to living at the zoo. Park groundskeeper Grayson next cares for the boy, but the old man dies and Maniac moves into the squalid home of the McNabs, who are convinced a race war is imminent. After a showdown with his nemesis, Mars Bar, Maniac bridges the gap between the two sides of town and finally finds a home. full of snappy street-talk cadences, this off-the-wall yarn will give readers of all colors plenty of food for thought.

Donahue, R. & Roback, D. (1990, May 11).  [Review of the book, Maniac Magee, by J. Spinelli].  Publishers 
       Weekly 237(19), 260. Retrieved from http://www.publishersweekly.com

Library Uses:
A school librarian should promote this novel to faculty members as an excellent choice for a class study. Themes to discuss throughout the novel study could include racism, segregation, and homelessness. Students could define what makes a house a home to them - is it the physical location, the people, or the feelings and then discuss Maniac’s search for a place to call home and if he was successful at the end of the novel in finding that. Students could also be prompted to keep a journal written as Maniac recording in first person all of his amazing feats (untying Cobble’s Knot, running on the rails, rescuing a boy from Finsterwald’s back yard) and his thoughts as he lives with the Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan, the Beales, Grayson, and the McNabbs.The librarian could order supplemental activities and additional resources to include information about segregation in the US in the 1960s and create a kit for this novel to be checked out by teachers.

Module 3: Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears

Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears
by Verna Aardema
illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon

Book summary:
After a pesky mosquito tells an iguana a silly lie, the iguana becomes annoyed and places sticks in his ears to avoid hearing such nonsense any longer. Thus begins a chain of events that eventually leads to the death of a baby owl. The mother owl is so grieved by the death of her baby that she refuses to summon the sun and the entire land is blanketed in darkness for far too long. The king of the wilderness, the lion, calls the animals of the kingdom before him to explain what has happened.  Mother owl explains that the monkey has killed her owlet and she is too grieved to call up the sun. The monkey in turn blames the crow, who blames the rabbit and the story unfolds. In the end it is seen that the mosquito is responsible for the death of the baby owl and the Mother owl is satisfied and calls the sun. The mosquito hides away to avoid punishment, but is riddled by a guilty conscience. The guilty conscience leads the mosquitoes to constantly buzz in the ears of people asking if everyone is still angry. This requires an honest response, and is why people squash mosquitoes.

Aardema, V., & Dillon, L. (1975). Why mosquitoes buzz in people's ears: A West African
        tale. New York, NY: Dillon Press.

My impressions:
I found the retelling of this classic African folktale a refreshing break from traditional fairy tales. The moral of the story is an important lesson on the consequences of telling lies and the greater effects of one's actions. The story is accompanied by beautiful illustrations that will captivate younger readers with the bright colors and sharp edges while exposing them to the traditional style of African art. 

Professional Review:
Ages 5-7. The Dillons' cut shapes of varying hues assembled into stylized scenes create a polished, dramatic visual panorama that is well matched by Aardema's onomatopoeic text relating how a mosquito's silly lie to an iguana sets in motion a cumulative series of events.

Folktale favorites. (1996, June 1). [Review of the book Why mosquitoes buzz in people's
         ears, by V. Aardema].  Booklist, 92(3), 19-20. Retrieved from http://www.booklistonline.com

Library Uses: 
This book would be an excellent addition to a book talk series for younger readers focusing on different types of illustrations. Students should look at the different types of art that resembles traditional artwork from varying countries and then choose a  style to emulate in their own display using pastels or colored pencils.

Module 3: Rapunzel

Rapunzel
by Paul O. Zelinsky

Book Summary:

This retelling of the classic fairy tale begins with a woman expecting her first child. The woman looks over the wall into the garden of a sorceress and becomes fixated on a bed of rapunzel leaves.  She longs so desperately for the leafy greens that she puts her health in peril and her husband scales the wall to retrieve the rapunzel for his wife, so that she does not die. Instead of satisfying her craving it only amplified it, and on the husband’s next attempt he is caught by the sorceress. The sorceress agrees to spare the life of the man and his wife in exchange for the child she bears. The sorceress names the baby Rapunzel and takes very good care of her. On Rapunzel’s twelth birthday the sorceress sends her to live in a high tower in the woods, with no entrance or exit, to protect her from the evils of the world. The sorceress visited Rapunzel daily by climbing her hair to the top of the tower. One day a prince heard Rapunzel singing and watched the sorceress climb her hair into the tower. The next day the prince called out to Rapunzel to let down her hair and he climbed up to meet her. Rapunzel and the prince fall in love and have their own marriage ceremony high up in the tower, all the while keeping their relationship a secret from the sorceress. When Rapunzel’s dress becomes tight the sorceress knows immediately what has happened and in a rage cuts off her hair and banishes her to a wild country to raise her children alone. The sorceress then waits for the prince to return. When the prince learns what has happened to Rapunzel he is distraught and falls from the tower, blinding himself. After a year of wandering aimlessly, the prince hears Rapunzel’s sweet singing and the two are reunited and the prince meets his twin children for the first time. Rapunzel’s tears heal the prince’s vision and they return to his kingdom to live happily ever after.

Zelinsky, P. O., Beniker, A., Stevens, J., & Dutton Children's Books (Firm). (1997).
             Rapunzel. New York, NY: Dutton Children's Books.

My impressions:

I found this story to be quite endearing and was pleasantly surprised to find the sorceress resembling a mother who was not ready to let her child grow up, rather than a cruel and unreasonable monster. The oil paintings were breathtaking and created page upon page of beautiful images that captured my attention completely. I found the story enticing in that the sorceress truly loves and cares for Rapunzel as her own child, and this is further depicted in the rich illustrations through the loving way she holds her as a baby and watches her grow into a young lady. I felt that the sorceress was resisting letting go of the beautiful Rampunzel and that is why she barricaded her into the tower – but the tower is not the ominous tower I remember from my childhood tales, rather it is a place of beauty and luxury. I think the tale finds a poetic way to demonstrate the struggle that many mothers have in letting go of their daughters for the first time.

Professional review:

Zelinsky does a star turn with this breathtaking interpretation of a favorite fairy tale. Daringly--and effectively--mimicking the masters of Italian Renaissance painting, he creates a primarily Tuscan setting. His Rapunzel, for example, seems a relative of Botticelli's immortal red-haired beauties, while her tower appears an only partially fantastic exaggeration of a Florentine bell tower. For the most part, his bold experiment brilliantly succeeds: the almost otherworldly golden light with which he bathes his paintings has the effect of consecrating them, elevating them to a grandeur befitting their adoptive art-historical roots. If at times his compositions and their references to specific works seem a bit self-conscious, these cavils are easily outweighed by his overall achievement.

The text, like the art, has a rare complexity, treating Rapunzel's imprisonment as her sorceress-adopted mother's attempt to preserve her from the effects of an awakening sexuality. Again like the art, this strategy may resonate best with mature readers. Young children may be at a loss, for example, when faced with the typically well-wrought but elliptical passage in which the sorceress discovers Rapunzel's liaisons with the prince when the girl asks for help fastening her dress (as her true mother did at the story's start): "'It is growing so tight around my waist, it doesn't want to fit me anymore.' Instantly the sorceress understood what Rapunzel did not." On the other hand, with his sophisticated treatment, Zelinsky demonstrates a point established in his unusually complete source notes: that timeless tales like Rapunzel belong to adults as well as children.

[Review of the book Rapunzel, by Paul O. Zelinsky]. (29 Sept. 1997). Publishers Weekly 244
                 (40), 89. Retrieved from http://www.publishersweekly.com

Library Uses:

This book would be excellent on display for the Caldecott collection, or used in a lesson introducing different styles of art, specifically Renaissance era artwork and Italian influences on art in the book. The book also would be an appropriate complement to a fairy tales book grouping or as a whimsical addition to a unit concerning plants and gardening.