Rapunzel (Caldecott Honor Book) - Hardcover

Grimm, Brothers; Grimm, Jacob; Zelinsky, Paul

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0525456074 ISBN 13: 9780525456070

Publisher: Puffin, 1997

Synopsis

Surely among the most original and gifted of children's book illustrators, Paul O. Zelinsky has once again with unmatched emotional authority, control of space, and narrativecapability brought forth a unique vision for an age-old tale. Few artists at work today can touch the level at which his paintings tell a story and exert their hold.

Zelinsky's retelling of Rapunzel reaches back beyond the Grimms to a late-seventeenth-century French tale by Mlle. la Force, who based hers on the Neapolitan tale Petrosinella in a collection popular at the time. The artist understands the story's fundamentals to be about possessiveness, confinement, and separation, rather than about punishment and deprivation. Thus the tower the sorceress gives Rapunzel here is not a desolate, barren structure of denial but one of esoteric beauty on the outside and physical luxury within. And the world the artist creates through the elements in his paintings the palette, control of light, landscape, characters, architecture, interiors, costumes speaks to us not of an ugly witch who cruelly imprisons a beautiful young girl, but of a mother figure who powerfully resists her child's inevitable growth, and of a young woman and man who must struggle in the wilderness for the self-reliance that is the true beginningof their adulthood.

As ever, and yet always somehow in newly arresting fashion, Paul O. Zelinsky's work thrillingly shows us the events of the story while guiding us beyond them to the truths that have made it endure.

About this title

About the Author

Jacob Ludwig Carol Grimm (1785-1863) and Wilhelm Carl Grimm (1786-1859), universally known as 'the brothers Grimm', were born in the German state of Hesse. Their ambition was to collect traditional tales in order to preserve Germany's heritage. They published two volumes in 1812 and 1814 which include some of the best-known fairy tales of all time, such as 'Tom Thumb' and 'The Elves and the Shoemaker'.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Award winning author/adapter/illustrator Paul O. Zelinsky's Caldecott Medal Winning book! Perfect for readers of all fairy tales.

"A breathtaking interpretation gives the fairy tale new art-historical roots, with illustrations that daringly-and effectively-mimic the masters of Italian Renaissance painting."--Publishers Weekly

Trapped in a tower with no door, Rapunzel is allowed to see no one but the sorceress who has imprisoned her-until the day a young prince hears her singing to the forest birds. . . . The timeless tale of Rapunzel is vividly and magnificently brought to life through Paul O. Zelinsky's powerful sense of narrative and his stunning oil paintings.

"Simply put, this is a gorgeous book; it demonstrates respect for the traditions of painting and the fairy tale while at the same time adhering to a singular, wholly original, artistic vision." (The Horn Book, starred review)

Edition details

• Publisher: Puffin
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0525456074
• ISBN 13: 9780525456070
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 40