Staff Picks

Rapunzel’s Revenge by Shannon Hale  (Teen Middle)

If you saw the movie Tangled, you probably know that it told a new twist on the classic fairy tale of Rapunzel.  If you liked it, you might also like this graphic novel version.  While it is longer and perhaps more wordy than the average graphic novel, it is fast-paced and easy to read.  This is another example of a fractured fairy tale, or a classic story turned on its head.  Instead of a girl locked in a tower, she is a girl kept in a fortress—and she is always trying to find a way to get out.  When she does escape and sees what is on the other side, it turns out to be more of a Western-style fort, and the story evolves into a wild-West cowboy and cowgirl adventure.  This Rapunzel doesn’t wait to be rescued—she escapes, gets out into the world and rescues herself.  Along the way she fights off some bad guys, gets into a few scrapes, and at the same time tries to figure out how to get revenge on the mean old woman who once held her captive.  And you get to find out whether she ends up with long or short hair in the end.

Virginia McCurry
Youth Services Specialist