Isn't every little girl fascinated by Rapunzel and her glorious hair? My 5-year-old daughter hasn't even seen Tangled but she totally knows that it exists and what story it tells. I think she has Rapunzel Radar. She's even got a Tangled nightgown (gift from a friend) and uses any excuse to make Rapunzels:
- drawing them
- making a Rapunzel salad person (a lunch time favorite in which we make "people" with our food; Rapunzel always gets LOTS of Ramen noodle hair...which then gets eaten)
- various crafts
If you aren't a Disney fan (or even if you are), seek out some traditional tellings of Rapunzel's story to read to your kids. Zelinsky's Rapunzel is a nice retelling, complete with a scary-but-not-too-scary witch and the ending in which Rapunzel and the prince are reunited and her tears heal his blindness. In this version, Rapunzel gives birth to twins! The illustrations are rather classical looking; in fact, this book is the Caldecott winner from 1998.
Rapunzel stories also appear in most fairy tale collections, like The Random House Book of Fairy Tales and others. Don't let Tangled be your child's only interpretation of this great story! Didn't we all want Rapunzel hair when we were little?!
This one is a favorite in our house too. I like that he stuck with the original French version so well and didn't change how the witch discovered Rapunzel was meeting the prince. The story was sanitized at some point from the earlier versions to the more familiar one where Rapunzel compares pulling up the witch to pulling up the prince. This just makes her seem stupid. The original way was far better.
ReplyDeleteTotally. Best. Version. Ever!!! I love pointing out the shades of purple throughout the book, the cat growing up from kittenhood with Rapunzel, the tender expression of the witch as she takes the child, and the witch's heartbroken look of betrayal as she cuts Rapunzel's hair. I don't think I could bear to watch Tangled, because this picture book is the ultimate rendition of Rapunzel!!!
ReplyDeleteWe've now seen Tangled, and it's a great Disney flick! It's quite different, so in my mind, they don't really compete.
ReplyDeleteAnd how cool is it that Rapunzel has TWINS?? :-)