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 IsaacAuthors: Shannon and Dean Hale
Illustrator: Nathan Hale
Published, 2008: Bloomsbury
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