Genre VI
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hale, Shannon and Dean. Ill. By Nathan Hale. 2008. Rapunzel’s Revenge. New York. Bloomsbury. ISBN: 9781599902883.
PLOT SUMMARY
Little Rapunzel lives in a beautiful villa with kind servants and her stern mother. On her twelfth birthday she decides to disobey orders to stay within the villa’s walls. She discovers enslaved peasants working mines of a desolate land. One of the slaves is her real mother. When the evil woman who has been raising her finds out that Rapunzel has disobeyed her, she locks her inside a hollow tree in a distant land. Four years later, she uses her hair that has grown to exaggerated lengths, to escape in the hopes of freeing her long lost mother. Along the way, Rapunzel encounters a world of bullies, liars and thieves. She also discovers that her true strength is not in her hair but is instead in her honest, compassionate and witty demeanor.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The authors have taken an old tale and convincingly spun an original twist into its very core. The story is clever, amusing and full of sarcasm. I enjoyed both the originality and the traditional aspects of the narrative. However, I found the format difficult to follow and the tale tended to wonder and even dropped off in the middle. Once I pushed through the many events that occurred along Rapunzel’s journey, I found the ending satisfying. The dialogue is a strange mixture of proper verbiage and an old west style of speech. The authors only develop two characters beyond a simple introduction. Both Rapunzel and her friend Jack, reveal information from their pasts and motivations behind their decisions. However, none of the characters are all that relatable or complicated. The disjointed style is hard to enjoy yet the theme clearly stands out as belief in one’s self is a great strength to possess. The illustrator has done a fantastic job of bringing the ever changing setting to life. The extravagant villa, the tree prison, the desert canyons, the dried up towns and the lush gardens are all beautifully depicted for readers. Of course the graphic artwork is colorful and expressive but can cause problems with the reader’s fluency and one may become confused.
REVIEWS AND AWARDS
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: The dialogue is witty, the story is an enticing departure from the original, and the illustrations are magically fun and expressive. Knowing that there are more graphic novels to come from this writing team brings readers their own happily-ever-after.
BOOKLIST: This graphic novel retelling of the fairy-tale classic, set in a swashbuckling Wild West, puts action first and features some serious girl power in its spunky and strong heroine. Hale’s art matches the story well, yielding expressive characters and lending a wonderful sense of place to the fantasy landscape. Rich with humor and excitement, this is an alternate version of a classic that will become a fast favorite of young readers.
CONNECTIONS
*Add this version to a study of fairy tales as it encourages students to “ think outside the box” when writing their own versions of familiar tales.
*Other tales in graphic novel form: GRIMM FAIRYTALES VOL. I by Tedesco Ralph and STORIES OF KING ARTHUR’S KNIGHTS TOLD TO THE CHILDREN by Mary MacGregor
*Other books by Shannon Hale
-CALAMITY JACK ISBN: 1599900766
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Genre VI
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gaiman, Neil. Ill. By Dave McKean. 2008. THE GRAVEYARD BOOK. New York. Harper Collins. ISBN 9780060530938.
PLOT SUMMARY
Having escaped the murderer who look the lives of his entire family, an infant is raised by the dead. An elderly, childless in life couple and mysterious Silas become Nobody’s new guardians. Over the years, they protect, teach and prepare “Bod” for a life they hope he will one day have. Each soul Bod meets in the graveyard trains him for life outside of the gate and shadows that guard him from the Jack that hunts him. Although, Bod grows in chapter after chapter, his journey actually begins at the end of the novel.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Neil Gaiman treats readers to a cast of intricate characters. Their complex emotions and reactions make them very relatable. Gaiman’s depictions of the old house, the graveyard, other dominions and beings from other realms are powerful. The author’s style is both heartwarming and dark. Readers are introduced to evils that are deeply disturbing and feelings that range from panic to terror as Bod’s survival is secured. Yet woven into this environment of heighten anxiety, readers find comfort and even peaceful, tender moments in Bod’s perseverance. In this novel, readers find the familiar theme of good will conquer evil with an added twist that suggests this is only possible when more sacrifices are made for love than for any other force. Dave McKean’s black and white graphic drawings at times add visual tension, better understanding and overall enhance the mood of this fantasy.
REVIEWS AND AWARDS
Newberry Medal
HORN BOOK: “Lucid, evocative prose and dark fairy-tale motifs imbue the story with a dreamlike quality. …this ghost-story-coming-of-age-novel as readable as it is accomplished.”
KIRKUS: "Wistful, witty, wise—and creepy. This needs to be read by anyone who is or has ever been a child.”
CONNECTIONS
*Other books by Neil Gaiman CORALINE and M IS FOR MAGIC.
*One of the characters that Bod comes to know is a young woman who was a victim of the Salem Witch Trials. Have students research other resources on this event in American history.
-The Salem Witch Trials: A Reference Guide by K. David Goss ISBN: 978-0313320958
- http://www.nationalgeographic.com/salem/
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gaiman, Neil. Ill. By Dave McKean. 2008. THE GRAVEYARD BOOK. New York. Harper Collins. ISBN 9780060530938.
PLOT SUMMARY
Having escaped the murderer who look the lives of his entire family, an infant is raised by the dead. An elderly, childless in life couple and mysterious Silas become Nobody’s new guardians. Over the years, they protect, teach and prepare “Bod” for a life they hope he will one day have. Each soul Bod meets in the graveyard trains him for life outside of the gate and shadows that guard him from the Jack that hunts him. Although, Bod grows in chapter after chapter, his journey actually begins at the end of the novel.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Neil Gaiman treats readers to a cast of intricate characters. Their complex emotions and reactions make them very relatable. Gaiman’s depictions of the old house, the graveyard, other dominions and beings from other realms are powerful. The author’s style is both heartwarming and dark. Readers are introduced to evils that are deeply disturbing and feelings that range from panic to terror as Bod’s survival is secured. Yet woven into this environment of heighten anxiety, readers find comfort and even peaceful, tender moments in Bod’s perseverance. In this novel, readers find the familiar theme of good will conquer evil with an added twist that suggests this is only possible when more sacrifices are made for love than for any other force. Dave McKean’s black and white graphic drawings at times add visual tension, better understanding and overall enhance the mood of this fantasy.
REVIEWS AND AWARDS
Newberry Medal
HORN BOOK: “Lucid, evocative prose and dark fairy-tale motifs imbue the story with a dreamlike quality. …this ghost-story-coming-of-age-novel as readable as it is accomplished.”
KIRKUS: "Wistful, witty, wise—and creepy. This needs to be read by anyone who is or has ever been a child.”
CONNECTIONS
*Other books by Neil Gaiman CORALINE and M IS FOR MAGIC.
*One of the characters that Bod comes to know is a young woman who was a victim of the Salem Witch Trials. Have students research other resources on this event in American history.
-The Salem Witch Trials: A Reference Guide by K. David Goss ISBN: 978-0313320958
- http://www.nationalgeographic.com/salem/
Friday, August 6, 2010
Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Genre VI
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Marchetta, Melina. 2006. JELLICOE ROAD. New York. Harper Collins. ISBN 9780061431838.
PLOT SUMMARY
Young Taylor doesn’t know where her father is or why her mother left her at the 7-eleven when she was just a girl but she does know that she has an inexplicable bond with the mysterious woman who lives by the river in the unfinished house. When Hannah goes missing, Taylor sets out to find her as well as her mother. All the while she battles the Townies, Cadets and her fellow students at the Jellicoe school who didn’t want her to be their leader any more than she did. As she takes this physical and emotional journey, Taylor learns what really happened to the five children who became a family the night of the fatal crash on Jellicoe road twenty years ago and how they provided her with a family of her own.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Marchetta has created an engulfing story full of conflict, mystery, friendship, danger and tragedy. Although each of the carefully crafted characters is fully aware of their own dependency on each other, they struggle with understanding that they are each valued by one another as well. The author demonstrates her superior skill in developing both male and female characters that are seamlessly intertwined and curiously connected. Marchetta’s natural, mysterious style provides for an unpredictable, complex and thoroughly enveloping story. Set in rural Australia in two time periods, present day and twenty years in the past, this narrative’s theme is one of loyalty and devotion. The author provides her readers with a realistic feel for the culture of these young Australians with contemporary situations, language and behaviors.
REVIEWS AND AWARDS
Michael L. Printze Award
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: Elegiac passages and a complex structure create a somewhat dense, melancholic narrative with elements of romance, mystery, and realistic fiction.
BOOKLIST: Taylor’s life has unexpected ties to her past, and the continual series of revelations is both the book’s strength and weakness; the melodrama can be trying, but when Marchetta isn’t forcing epiphanies, she has a knack for nuanced characterizations and punchy dialogue. The complexity of the backstory will be offputting to younger readers, but those who stick it out will find rewards in the heartbreaking twists of Marchetta’s saga.
CONNECTIONS
*This novel would provide for good comparisons with S.E. Hinton’s THE OUTSIDERS.
*Other books by Melina Marchetta SAVING FRANCESCA and LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Marchetta, Melina. 2006. JELLICOE ROAD. New York. Harper Collins. ISBN 9780061431838.
PLOT SUMMARY
Young Taylor doesn’t know where her father is or why her mother left her at the 7-eleven when she was just a girl but she does know that she has an inexplicable bond with the mysterious woman who lives by the river in the unfinished house. When Hannah goes missing, Taylor sets out to find her as well as her mother. All the while she battles the Townies, Cadets and her fellow students at the Jellicoe school who didn’t want her to be their leader any more than she did. As she takes this physical and emotional journey, Taylor learns what really happened to the five children who became a family the night of the fatal crash on Jellicoe road twenty years ago and how they provided her with a family of her own.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Marchetta has created an engulfing story full of conflict, mystery, friendship, danger and tragedy. Although each of the carefully crafted characters is fully aware of their own dependency on each other, they struggle with understanding that they are each valued by one another as well. The author demonstrates her superior skill in developing both male and female characters that are seamlessly intertwined and curiously connected. Marchetta’s natural, mysterious style provides for an unpredictable, complex and thoroughly enveloping story. Set in rural Australia in two time periods, present day and twenty years in the past, this narrative’s theme is one of loyalty and devotion. The author provides her readers with a realistic feel for the culture of these young Australians with contemporary situations, language and behaviors.
REVIEWS AND AWARDS
Michael L. Printze Award
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: Elegiac passages and a complex structure create a somewhat dense, melancholic narrative with elements of romance, mystery, and realistic fiction.
BOOKLIST: Taylor’s life has unexpected ties to her past, and the continual series of revelations is both the book’s strength and weakness; the melodrama can be trying, but when Marchetta isn’t forcing epiphanies, she has a knack for nuanced characterizations and punchy dialogue. The complexity of the backstory will be offputting to younger readers, but those who stick it out will find rewards in the heartbreaking twists of Marchetta’s saga.
CONNECTIONS
*This novel would provide for good comparisons with S.E. Hinton’s THE OUTSIDERS.
*Other books by Melina Marchetta SAVING FRANCESCA and LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI
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