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RAPUNZEL

A GROOVY FAIRY TALE

Having found an audience—an adult one, at least—for Cinderella: An Art Deco Love Story (2001), the Roberts sibs put a differently styled, but equally stylish twist on another folktale romance. Every day while her evil Aunt Esme is off being the Lunch Lady from hell, young Rapunzel stays locked in a top-floor apartment, listening to Bowie and Blondie LPs by a lava lamp’s light. Until, that is, Roger, lead guitarist in a high-school band, spots Aunt Esme leaving for work down Rapunzel’s long red braid. The illustrator outfits the young folk in bell bottoms and platform shoes, filling out the backdrops with period posters and other details. The author follows the original plotline, at least in general, but eases up on the end, so that Roger just suffers temporary amnesia rather than being blinded by his long fall, and after the lovers are reunited at a rock concert, Rapunzel becomes an accomplished designer of (red) wigs. Those under 30 may miss many of the cultural references, but even in this fractured form it’s good to see the classic tale stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive. (illustrator’s note) (Picture book/folktale. 8-10, adult)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2003

ISBN: 0-8109-4242-9

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Abrams

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2003

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THE SINGING ROCK & OTHER BRAND-NEW FAIRY TALES

Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock”...

The theme of persistence (for better or worse) links four tales of magic, trickery, and near disasters.

Lachenmeyer freely borrows familiar folkloric elements, subjecting them to mildly comical twists. In the nearly wordless “Hip Hop Wish,” a frog inadvertently rubs a magic lamp and finds itself saddled with an importunate genie eager to shower it with inappropriate goods and riches. In the title tale, an increasingly annoyed music-hating witch transforms a persistent minstrel into a still-warbling cow, horse, sheep, goat, pig, duck, and rock in succession—then is horrified to catch herself humming a tune. Athesius the sorcerer outwits Warthius, a rival trying to steal his spells via a parrot, by casting silly ones in Ig-pay Atin-lay in the third episode, and in the finale, a painter’s repeated efforts to create a flattering portrait of an ogre king nearly get him thrown into a dungeon…until he suddenly understands what an ogre’s idea of “flattering” might be. The narratives, dialogue, and sound effects leave plenty of elbow room in Blocker’s big, brightly colored panels for the expressive animal and human(ish) figures—most of the latter being light skinned except for the golden genie, the blue ogre, and several people of color in the “Sorcerer’s New Pet.”

Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock” music. (Graphic short stories. 8-10)

Pub Date: June 18, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-59643-750-0

Page Count: 112

Publisher: First Second

Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019

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JUDY MOODY SAVES THE WORLD!

McDonald’s irrepressible third-grader (Judy Moody Gets Famous, 2001, etc.) takes a few false steps before hitting full stride. This time, not only has her genius little brother Stink submitted a competing entry in the Crazy Strips Band-Aid design contest, but in the wake of her science teacher’s heads-up about rainforest destruction and endangered animals, she sees every member of her family using rainforest products. It’s all more than enough to put her in a Mood, which gets her in trouble at home for letting Stink’s pet toad, Toady, go free, and at school for surreptitiously collecting all the pencils (made from rainforest cedar) in class. And to top it off, Stink’s Crazy Strips entry wins a prize, while she gets . . . a certificate. Chronicled amusingly in Reynolds’s frequent ink-and-tea drawings, Judy goes from pillar to post—but she justifies the pencil caper convincingly enough to spark a bottle drive that nets her and her classmates not only a hundred seedling trees for Costa Rica, but the coveted school Giraffe Award (given to those who stick their necks out), along with T-shirts and ice cream coupons. Judy’s growing corps of fans will crow “Rare!” right along with her. (Fiction. 8-10)

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2002

ISBN: 0-7636-1446-7

Page Count: 160

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2002

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