Lancette Arts - Children's Books Rapunzel's Revenge

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Rapunzel's Revenge
a graphic children's book by Shannon & Dean Hale, illustrated by Nathan Hale

By Alidë Kohlhaas

Most small children love picture books and as they grow older they enjoy comics, even if they read Harry Potter or other stories and novels appropriate to their age. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that children's book writer Shannon Hale, with assistance from husband Dean, has turned to the format of graphic novel to tell a raucous tale that combines three ancient tales into one. Rapunzel's Revenge, beautifully illustrated by Nathan Hale (no relation to Shannon and Dean) offers up the German fairytale, Rapunzel, and combines it with the British tale, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Aesop's fable, The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg.

The three stories are skillfully woven together and set in the Wild West in which Rapunzel is quite the gal. She manages to escape from her 'tower' all on her own. Of course, it would be terrible of me to give away how this tale unfolds, but it is so adventurous that even older teenagers might like this graphic novel.

I am not sure that the Hales' have thought much about the original morals implied in Jack and the Beanstalk, or of The Goose that laid the Golden Egg. In their intertwined version of these stories only a happy ending can be the just reward for those with good intentions. At the same time, there is no doubt that sooner or later Rapunzel will find a way to punish Mother Gothel, who had imprisoned her B and others, according to this tale B for so long.

By setting the story in the western desert of the United States, a place familiar to the Hales as they live in Utah, and by also folding in some Native folk lore, they have created a potent brew for youngsters 10 and up. I suspect, though that the excellent drawings will catch the attention of even younger readers. There are such characters as outlaws pursued by sheriffs, Wild West saloons and saloon keepers, miners, unusual animals and caves to hide in,

Mother Gothel in this story is even nastier than in the original tale. Being in possession of magic, it is magic that is also her undoing in the end, but not without the help of Rapunzel and Jack.

Parents who fear that by offering up graphic novels they will induce a dislike of the written word in their children need not worry. I suspect that books of this nature are no more damaging to reading interests than the comic strips in newspapers we read as youngsters, or the various Marvel Comics. If anything, they may lead to an interest in reading in more detail.

I certainly like this Rapunzel better than the silly heroin of Shannon Hale's Austenland, which I am told is an adult novel although I classified it as young adult.