Monday, December 15, 2008

Review #7: Rapunzel's Revenge


Dad:  Today we are reviewing "Rapunzel's Revenge," written by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale, illustrated by Nathan Hale.
Isaac (age 10):  That's a lot of Hales!
Gracie (age 8):  I bet they're all in one family.
Dad:  Nope - they're not, because I looked at the back and it says "...Nathan Hale, no relation to Dean or Shannon."
Isaac:  But why is his name Hale then?
Dad:  Just by chance I guess...
Isaac:  It sounds like "hail" from the sky.
Dad:  Do you know what this kind of book is called?
Isaac:  Comic book?
Dad:  They have a fancy name for it now - it's called a Graphic Novel.
Gracie:  I think it's a comic book and a chapter book mixed.
Lily (age 5):  The story is about a girl named Rapunzel.  She lost her real mother, and Gothel said she was a naughty girl --
Gracie:  Gothel traps Rapunzel in a tower.
Lily:  The tower had big, big thorns and it was a giant tree.  When she grew long braids, her hair helped her get out of the tree tower.
Gracie:  Her hair grew really long because she didn't have scissors when she was trapped.  There was also "magic growth" in the tree tower.
Lily:  She has magical hair!  I want hair like that!
Dad:  She used her hair in lots of cool ways, didn't she...
Gracie:  She used it to escape the tower.
Isaac:  She spins things around in it, like flaming torches.
Gracie:  She uses it to fight crime.
Lily:  She's good at tricks now.  Really good.  She practices.
Gracie:  She lassos with it, whips with it, climbs things with it like a rope.
Lily:  She wrapped it right around the water snake's head... actually its neck.
Gracie:  She used it to steer a big evil boar thing.
Dad:  What would you do if you had long braids?
Isaac:  Don't ask me that question.
Gracie:  It would take a whole day to comb it.
Lily:  I would save people from bad things and be just like Rapunzel.
Gracie:  I would lasso my brothers and sisters.  Climb up high places.  Smack bugs.  Kill evil dudes.  Pretty much the same things as Rapunzel.  I would also do lots of fun hairstyles!
Lily:  At the end, Rapunzel looks beautiful when her braids get snipped.
Gracie:  They never told us if her hair would get longer again after that.
Dad:  Well, Mother Gothel's powers were destroyed... so what do you think?
Isaac:  Nope.
Gracie:  Well, if they never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever clipped it again it might get longer.
Dad:  You think a person could grow hair that long without magic?
Gracie:  Maybe if people never clipped their hair from the time they were babies.
Dad:  So Lily, you really think Rapunzel looks better with shorter hair?
Lily:  I love her when her braids are snipped because it looks beautiful.
Dad:  Let's snip your hair...
Lily:  Nooo!  I want long magical hair!
Gracie:  If I got a really really long wig, then I could be Rapunzel!
Dad:  Now, was this book the same as the Rapunzel Story that we are all used to hearing?
Isaac:  No!  All the people are dressed like cowboys.  The original Rapunzel story had knights and things...
Gracie:  But now it's also the Wild West.  And her cowgirl outfit is awesome!
Dad:  So they took a fairytale and a western and mixed them together.
Gracie:  I LOVED "Rapunzel's Revenge"!  The original fairytale left out the coolest parts!
Dad:  Well... the original didn't leave them out.  This is all new.  Nobody had ever thought of all those cool parts until Shannon Hale and Dean Hale made them up.
Gracie:  Thank-you Shannon and Dean!!!
Isaac: What about the third guy?  Who was the third guy?
Gracie:  Thank-you Nathan, Shannon, and Dean!
Lily:  My favorite part was when Rapunzel was fighting the coyotes.  She was swinging the fire all around.
Isaac:  The water snake was really cool.  Nathan Hale did a really good job on it.  It was green and had the fangs of a rattle snake.  And it was giant.
Lily:  The water snake was very, very scary.  I thought Rapunzel would die!
Isaac:  That snake picture - it would have to take months to make.  If you look at it, there's so many little details.  I'm surprised he even finished this picture -- that he didn't give up on it.  It just looks hard to draw.
Lily:  Who was that big bad guy with a green coat and yellow hair?
Gracie:  "Brute."  But he is not a bad guy - he helped her in the end.
Lily:  And he wanted his Mommy!
Isaac:  What was that thing they were riding?  A yak?
Lily:  They were riding a buffalo in a really scary place.
Gracie:  There were no scary beasts when they got to Devil's Armpit!  (Gracie sticks her hand under her armpit and begins pumping out noises)  Pbbt pbbt pbbt pbbt...
Dad:  That's quite a musical pit you have there!
Gracie:  Hahhaahaaa!  A girl from Awana taught me that.
Dad:  Wonderful.
Isaac:  I say the worst place was with the coyotes.
Lily:  Coyotes...  Coyo-yo-yo-yo-teeeee!  Aawoooo!
Gracie:  No - Devil's Armpit was the worst place.  (Armpit noises resume)  Pbbt pbbt pbbt pbbt...  Nothing was alive there, everything was dead - plants were dead, people were dead, beasts were dead, tombstones were everywhere, boneyards... not a very happy place.
Isaac:  Rapunzel has one friend in the book
Gracie:  Two - Jack and the goose...
Lily:  In the ending Rapunzel and Jack kissed!
Gracie:  The ending was romantic -- Woo- oo!
Lily:  They kissed!
Dad:  Any concluding words?
Isaac:  I liked it.  Everyone should read the book.  It'll take an hour though.
Lily:  This book is like a movie.  It has exciting things, and movies have exciting things.
Gracie:  And I still say Devil's Armpit was bad - Everything died.  That's why there were no scary beasts there - everything died.
Dad:  Well, I think you just like saying Armpit.
Gracie's armpit:  Pbbt pbbt pbbt pbbt...
Lily:  At the end they kissed!

Rapunzel, by Gracie

Rapunzel scaling the tree tower, by Lily

Rapunzel spinning flaming torches, by Lily

Rapunzel facing the giant water snake, by Isaac


Authors: Shannon and Dean Hale
Illustrator: Nathan Hale
Published, 2008: Bloomsbury
Like it? Find it

17 comments:

teacherninja said...

armpit, armpit, armpit.

caribookscoops said...

What a fun review. I love that the original fairy tale left out all the cool parts or rather that Shannon and Dean added them in later. And the whole armpit thing hilarious.

Carrie said...

Why does the name Shannon Hale sound so familiar to me? What else has she written?

I had heard of this book but wasn't aware of very much about it so I appreciatd your review. And Isaac - the detail of your water snake drawing is amazing!

I also loved Lily's flaming torch drawing and Gracie's heroic looking Rapunzel!

ElizT said...

We loved Kathleen Hale's Orlando books.

Nathan said...

This was a great review guys! Thank you so much! My favorite part has to be the drawings at the end. I'd like to post them on MY blog some time.
Thanks!

Sherry said...

Shannon wrote Goose Girl, Enna Burning, River Secrets (all part of the Bayern series); Princess Academy (Newbery Honor); and Book of a Thousand Days (Cybils Young Adult Fantasy winner this past year); along with an adult book, Austenland.

These three Hales are very taleneted and they're doing a sequel - Calamity Jack.

Thanks for the great reviews Bookie Woogie. Two of the reviews helped me to decide on purchases for a couple of my young nephews. Keep it up - reading, discussing, and drawing!

K said...

This is the coolest blog EVER, you guys! My kids and I love it.

We are also geeking out a little over the connection with Hiccupotomus - one of our most favorite books ever.

Yay, books! Yay kids who love books!

Anonymous said...

Isaac, that water snake looks hard to draw...and it's really cool.

When are you going to add streaming audio to these reviews? I'm eager for the armpit sounds. I still can't do that, and I've been trying for a very long time.

Anonymous said...

Loved the review! I'm new to your blog and really enjoyed the interview with your kids and the drawings at the end.

Heather J. @ TLC Book Tours said...

I love hearing all the kids comments! That's how I review books with my kiddo, but since it's just me and him there are fewer opinions involved. :)

Alicia said...

What a great "snapshot" of your family! Wonderful post!

Z-Kids said...

Wow - so many comments!
Hello again to old friends and welcome to new visitors Sherry, Haikumama, Lifewithmyboys, HeatherJ, and Alicia...

And special Hello to Nathan Hale -- it would be a big honor to see the pictures on your blog!

I have to throw in a Dad observation... The thing that I found cool about Isaac's drawing in particular was that one second he's talking about how difficult it looks, and then the very next thing he did was turn around and take a shot at it himself - stepped right up to the challenge!

Thanks for sharing everyone...
Z-Dad

Shanna said...

Oh my goodness! Gracie is a hoot! Great review and such refined artists! Thank you also for the suggestions about tiger books for my son, I'll check into them. Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

Your blog is wonderful,original and fun!
Compliments!

Z-Kids said...

Thanks for all the comments!
I had a lot of fun drawing the rattlesnake... except when I had to put in all the lines on his back - it took forever! I'm glad I did it though.
One thing I learned was about "Scale." At first I didn't put Rapunzel in, but then it made the snake look small. So when I put Rapunzel in it showed the size of the snake.
- Isaac

Framed said...

This is one of the funnest reviews I've read for quite a while. I've read all of Shannon Hale's other books but haven't got to this one yet. But then I don't have three kids to make it such a fun read.

Joan Holub said...

Hi Dad, Lily, Gracie, and Isaac. I love your blog, and I especially enjoyed your Rapunzel's Revenge review and art!