Rapunzel's Revenge

Bibliography

Hale, Shannon and Dean Hale. 2008. Rapunzel’s revenge. Ill. By Nathan Hale. New York: Bloomsbury. ISBN 159990070X

Plot Summary

When young Rapunzel dares to sneak a peek over the wall of the villa, she finds a desolate land, and her real mother who is a slave in the mines. Rapunzel confronts Mother Gothel, the witch who raised her, and is sent to live in a tree tower all alone with nothing to do except practice lasso tricks with her fast growing braids. Four years later and still unrepentant, Rapunzel escapes from her prison and sets out to rescue her mother. Rapunzel meets a noble prince soon after her escape, but quickly realizes that he is none too charming. When Rapunzel meets Jack, with his goose that refuses to lay an egg, they get into a brawl, rescue a little girl, break out of jail, wrangle a herd of coyotes, and battle a serpent on their way to rescue Rapunzel’s mother. With each adventure, Rapunzel becomes more aware of the stranglehold that Mother Gothel has on the people, keeping them hungry and desperate by controlling all things that grow.

Critical Analysis

This Wild West version of Rapunzel features a princess who rescues herself from her tower, and rescues her people from the clutches of the evil witch. Themes center on girl power and honesty. Characters and motifs from other fairytales make appearances. The graphic novel format beautifully illustrates the contrast between the soft, blooming, villa that Rapunzel grew up in, and the desolate, rugged wasteland where all of the people have turned into outlaws in order to survive.

Review Excerpts

School Library Journal: “Rapunzel is no damsel in distress–she wields her long braids as both rope and weapon–but she happily accepts Jack’s teamwork and friendship. While the witch’s castle is straight out of a fairy tale, the nearby mining camps and rugged surrounding countryside are a throwback to the Wild West and make sense in the world that the authors and illustrator have crafted. The dialogue is witty, the story is an enticing departure from the original, and the illustrations are magically fun and expressive.”

BookList: “This graphic novel retelling of the fairy-tale classic, set in a swashbuckling Wild West, puts action first and features some serious girl power in its spunky and strong heroine… Hale’s art matches the story well, yielding expressive characters and lending a wonderful sense of place to the fantasy landscape. Rich with humor and excitement, this is an alternate version of a classic that will become a fast favorite of young readers.”

Connections

* Sequel to Rapunzel’s Revenge:

Hale, Shannon and Dean Hale. 2010. Calamity Jack. Ill. By Nathan Hale. New York: Bloomsbury. ISBN 1599900769

* Versions of other Fairytales by Shannon Hale:

Hale, Shannon. 2005. The goose girl. ISBN 1582349908

Hale, Shannon. 2009. Book of a thousand days. ISBN 1599903784

Going Bovine

Bibliography

Bray, Libba. 2009. Going bovine. Read by Erik Davies. New York: Listening Library. ISBN 9780739385579

Plot Summary

16-year-old Cameron Smith is disaffected and contemptuous of his parents, his popular twin sister, teachers, and life in general. When Cameron starts hallucinating about Fire Gods and a mysterious Dark Wizard, he is diagnosed with Mad Cow (Creutzfeldt-Jakob) disease. Lying in his hospital bed, waiting to go crazy and die, Cameron is visited by a pink-haired angel named Dulcie who sends him on a mission to find Dr. X, find a cure, and save the world. Accompanying him on the mission are his hospital roommate, a hypochondriac gamer dwarf, and a Viking god lawn gnome who is searching for his ship and a way home.

Critical Analysis

Cameron is a rather unsympathetic character in the beginning, this changes as he sets off on his adventure and learns to live and love. At the beginning of Cameron’s adventure it is unclear how much of what he experiences is reality and how much is hallucination. Just as the reader is beginning to care about Cameron, to hope that he succeeds in his mission, it becomes clear that the adventure is only happening in his dying mind. In the end, it no longer matters so much; Cameron has the chance to experience a lifetime’s worth of adventure, to love, to save the world, and to not die a virgin.

Erik Davies brings life to the variety of characters in the audiobook version of Going Bovine. He perfectly captures the sardonic voice of Cameron in the dialogue; however, the narration (from Cameron’s point of view) sometimes misses the mark and sounds like an adult narrator rather than a 16-year-old boy. Each character is given a distinct voice, which works very well for most of the characters, but whenever the character has a thick Texas accent, the exaggerated twang is excruciating. This recording would benefit from having a female voice for the female characters.

Review Excerpts

School Library Journal: “Bray blends in a hearty dose of satire on the road trip as Cameron leaves his Texas deathbed—or does he?—to battle evil forces... It's a trip worth taking, though meandering and message-driven at times. Some teens may check out before Cameron makes it to his final destination, but many will enjoy asking themselves the questions both deep and shallow that pop up along the way.”

Kirkus Reviews: ”This decidedly fantastical premise mixes with armchair physics and time-travel theory as they make their way from Texas to Florida. Or possibly Cameron is just hallucinating his way through his last days in a hospital bed. Whichever view of this at times too-sprawling tale readers take, along the way there is plenty of delightfully funny dialogue ("Okay, Balder? Could you and your Norse goodness do me a solid and take a hike? I need a minute here") and enough real character development, in spite of all the purposefully zany details, to cause genuine concern for their respective fates.”

Connections

* Related books:

Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de. 2009. Don Quixote. New York: Signet Classics. ISBN 0451531280

Yam, Philip. 2003. The Pathological Protein: Mad Cow, Chronic Wasting, and Other Deadly Prion Diseases. ISBN 0387955089

The Graveyard Book

Bibliography

Gaiman, Neil. 2008. The graveyard book. Ill. by Dave McKean. New York: Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN 9780060530921

Plot Summary

Orphaned as a toddler when his living family was murdered, Nobody “Bod” Owens grows up in a graveyard with his ghostly adoptive family. On the night of Bod’s arrival in the graveyard, the ghostly inhabitants agree to take him in and keep him safe from the killer who is determined to finish the job. One inhabitant of the graveyard, Silas, who is neither dead nor alive and can leave the graveyard, is appointed guardian of the boy. As Silas seeks to find the killer and put a stop to his plans, Bod grows into a bright and inquisitive young boy who chafes at the restriction of staying in the graveyard. Every time Bod leaves the graveyard, he inevitably attracts unwanted attention, attention that could draw the killer straight to him.

Critical Analysis

The morbid plot and setting of The Graveyard Book is lightened with details of the night-to-night routines of a diverse community of ghosts who died over the course of several centuries. The story is sprinkled with fascinating glimpses of British lore, history, mythology, and dialects through the ages. Caius Pompeius, the oldest ghost in the graveyard, describes his funeral procession that included mimes who wore the wax faces of his dead wife and father. Characters are often identified with the epitaphs from their headstones, such as “Thomas Pennyworth (here he lyes in the certainty of the moft glorious refurrection)” who teaches Bod about Elements and Humors. Silas is a particularly mysterious character whose nature is slowly revealed to the astute reader who is familiar with vampire lore, although as Mrs. Owens asserts “He’s not a monster”.

The theme of the book develops slowly and is made clear when Silas tells Bod that the killer is still after him. Bod is unfazed by the thought of dying, after all “all of my best friends are dead”, but Silas explains that Bod has potential, unlike the dead whose potential is finished. It is through the efforts of Silas, the other graveyard inhabitants, and Bod himself, that Bod will have the chance to fulfill the potential of his life beyond the graveyard.

Dave McKean’s illustrations are especially creepy and add to the mood of the story.

Review Excerpts

Kirkus Reviews: “Childhood fears take solid shape in the nursery-rhyme–inspired villains, while heroism is its own, often bitter, reward. Closer in tone to American Gods than to Coraline, but permeated with Bod's innocence, this needs to be read by anyone who is or has ever been a child..”

BookList: “This is an utterly captivating tale that is cleverly told through an entertaining cast of ghostly characters. There is plenty of darkness, but the novel’s ultimate message is strong and life affirming. Although marketed to the younger YA set, this is a rich story with broad appeal and is highly recommended for teens of all ages.”

Connections

* More by Neil Gaiman:

Gaiman, Neil. 2002. Coraline. ISBN 0380977788

Gaiman, Neil. 2008. Stardust. ISBN 0061689246

* Host a Danse Macabre: Children can come dressed as ghosts from the story, ghosts of their own creation, or as living people. Crafts can include decorating their tombstone and composing an epitaph.