Rapunzel's Revenge by Sannon and Dean Hale

Bibliography

Hale, Shannon, and Dean Hale. Rapunzel’s Revenge. Ill. by Nathan Hale. New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury, 2008.
ISBN 9781599900704

Plot Summary

          “WANTED DEAD or ALIVE RAPUNZEL FOR HORSE THIEVING, KIDNAPPING, JAIL BREAKING, AND USING HER HAIR IN A MANNER OTHER THAN NATURE INTENDED! REWARD” (75).  Though not exactly the description one would associate with the famous fairy tale character Rapunzel, Shannon and Dean Hale’s graphic novel Rapunzel’s Revenge portrays her no longer a damsel in distress, but a “vigilante hero come to seek revenge” (130) on Mother Gothel, the woman who took her from her mother.  With “twenty feet of hair” (74) braided and holstered on her belt like a lasso, Rapunzel, accompanied by her sidekick, Jack, a well-intentioned thief with a goose called Goldy, will ride through the Wild West battling “. . . a rampaging boar, a pack of outlaw kidnappers, a horde of blood-hungry coyotes and a sea serpent . . .” (110) to rescue Rapunzel’s mother from the evil Mother Gothel.

Critical Analysis

          Shannon and Dean Hale have taken a well-known fairy tale maiden and fantastically transformed her into a cowboy superhero starring in a graphic novel.  The teen reader’s imagination is immediately lassoed!  In Rapunzel’s Revenge, the Hales make a victimized, isolated, pining young girl into a powerful, take-charge heroine whose sidekick “prince” doesn’t really rescue her as much as he aids and abets her on her revenge mission. 

          The plot has the basic structure of the fairy tale but is modern, fast-paced and full of fun twists and turns.  The readers are able to see what Rapunzel thinks by illustrator’s, Nathan Hale, visually placing Rapunzel’s words addressed to the reader in a yellow box, different font, and first-person narration punctuated throughout the graphics.  “To keep me from going batty, I made use of my dratted hair” (30).  Rapunzel is drawn in action most of the time, “fwipping” her twenty-foot braids to help herself out of a situation or to help someone else.  She’s on a mission to rescue her mother from the mines, and she uses that “dratted hair” to its best advantage against a boar, assorted bad guys, coyotes, and a sea serpent.  Her last efforts find her in conflict with Mother Gothel, the person responsible for her Mother’s enslavement.

          The Hales have chosen a western twist on the setting.  They wait until the characters need directional information out of the Badlands to give the reader a well-defined map of the terrain to Gothel’s villa.  The illustration includes comments Rapunzel and Jack, her side-kick and a character from another fairy tale which entertains the reader with inside knowledge, are making in boxes superimposed on the map.  “We can’t risk crossing the Beast Fields either” (73).  Positioning the map half-way through the story increases the reader’s interest in the magnitude of the journey to rescue Rapunzel’s mother and the possibilities of exciting adventure.

          The West as a setting contributed to Rapunzel’s strong new personality. She rides, she shoots a gun, she lassos, and she speaks with a cowboy twang.  Even attired in Jack’s mother’s clothing he had taken for disguises, she defeats some bad-intentioned bad guys before Jack spends his coins for an outfit for her.  She’s transformed, as shown in a very large illustration, into a well-dressed power cowgirl, symbolized by the three-quarter page illustration of her new presence (80).

          Thematically, Rapunzel intends to take her revenge for “four years in a tower, dag-nabit,” (136) but she doesn’t stop once her mother is safe.  Mother Gothel has snipped her braids to disable her, but Rapunzel wants to find her source of power so that others can be free, too.  The conflict is graphically illustrated in several sizes of boxes which emphasizes the chaos of the situation (138-140).

The Hales’ voices triumph in prose and picture.  They have made their Rapunzel so memorable by using all manner of literary allusions and innuendo and innocent, fun remarks.  Jack and his goose Goldy are transparently from Jack and the Beanstalk, yet we see Jack’s personality and eventual interest in more than just Rapunzel’s skills.  Amadeus and his friends are reminiscent of the Seven Dwarfs (100) who tie up Brute, a move that visually “ties in” with Gulliver in Gulliver’s Travels (101).  Rapunzel stands up to Mother Gothel which the illustrator portrays in an angry, oblong panel, but with Rapunzel’s words, “so I told her to go . . . someplace less nice” (33).

Review Excerpt(s)

YRCA-Intermediate winner 2011
ALA’s Notable Children's Books 2009
An Al Roker’s Book Club Pick
An Indie Next Pick
A YALSA Great Graphic Novel
A Texas Lone Star Reading List Nominee

“Rich with humor and excitement, this is an alternate version of a classic that will become a fast favorite of young readers.” – BOOKLIST

“The dialogue is witty, the story is an enticing departure from the original, and the illustrations are magically fun and expressive.” –SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL

“Nathan Hale’s art, stylistically reminiscent of a picture book, provides a snazzy counterpoint to the folksy text.” – KIRKUS REVIEW

“…swashbuckling and hilarious twist on the classic story as you’ve never seen it before.” – YA BOOKS CENTRAL

Connections for Teens

·        Read the companion novel:  Calamity Jack

·        Try finding fairy tale allusions in the book.  For example, Jack and Bean Stalk with the Golden Goose.

·        Describe what having 20 pounds of hair would be like in your life.

·        Identify another fairytale princess with a historical time period.  For example, Little Red Riding Hood in the future or Cinderella in the American Depression.  Write a short proposal for a fantasy novel plot.