Rapunzel

by Chloe Perkins, Archana Sreenivasan (Illustrator)

Overview

The classic story of Rapunzel gets a fresh twist in this vibrant Indian spin on the beloved fairy tale!

Once upon a time, there was a girl with long, long hair, who lived in a tall, tall tower...

The classic tale of Rapunzel gets a fresh twist in this third book of a brand-new board book series, Once Upon a World. With India as the backdrop, and vibrant artwork from illustrator Archana Sreenivasan, Rapunzel is still the same girl who lets down her beautiful hair—but she’s totally reimagined. Once Upon a World offers a multicultural take on the fairy tales we all know and love. Because these tales are for everyone, everywhere.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781481490726
Publisher:	Little Simon
Publication date:	03/21/2017
Series:	Once Upon a World
Pages:	24
Sales rank:	205,444
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 6.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	2 - 4 Years

About the Author

Chloe Perkins is the editor and author of a few dozen books for children. She lives in New York City, with her husband, Rico, and their corgi puppy/sometimes shark, Marius. Growing up in a small town in Ohio, Chloe always dreamed of writing stories that could take kids on their own reading adventures, and she’s thrilled to be doing just that!

Archana Sreenivasan is an illustrator based in Bangalore, India. Her illustrations have been published in numerous magazines, children’s books, book covers, and comics. She studied animation film design at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, and participated in a summer residency at the School of Visual Arts in New York, where she studied illustration. She finds the natural world and people-watching most inspiring and is endlessly fascinated by cats.

Editorial Reviews

2017-04-17
A retelling of the classic fairy tale with India as its setting.This latest addition to the Once Upon A World series tells the well-known story of the maiden with beautiful long tresses locked away in a tower by an evil witch and the prince who falls in love with her. As with Perkins' Cinderella (illustrated by Sandra Equihua, 2016) and Snow White (illustrated by Misa Saburi, 2016), the text has been simplified for a younger audience, and the distinguishing twist here is its setting in India. The mixed-media illustrations of plants, animals, village life, and, of course, Rapunzel, the witch, and the prince come alive in warm, saturated colors. Other than the visuals, there is little to differentiate the story from traditional tellings. As always, it is still the prince who will eventually lead Rapunzel to her salvation by taking her to his kingdom far away from the witch, but that is the nature of fairy tales. The only quibble with this book and indeed with this series is the board-book format. Given the fact that the audience most likely to enjoy it is beyond the board-book age, a full-size book would have done more justice to the vibrant artwork. Adults wishing to expand the worldviews of their young charges beyond Eurocentric interpretations will find plenty of visual delights in this one, though they'll wish it were bigger. (Board book. 3-5)

Kirkus Reviews