Once upon a time, in a land you only think you know, lived a little girl and her mother . . . or the woman she thought was her mother.
Every day, when the little girl played in her pretty garden, she grew more curious about what lay on the other side of the garden wall . . . a rather enormous garden wall.
And every year, as she grew older, things seemed weirder and weirder, until the day she finally climbed to the top of the wall and looked over into the mines and desert beyond.
Newbery Honor-winning author Shannon Hale teams up with husband Dean Hale and brilliant artist Nathan Hale (no relation) to bring readers a swashbuckling and hilarious twist on the classic story as you’ve never seen it before. Watch as Rapunzel and her amazing hair team up with Jack (of beanstalk fame) to gallop around the wild and western landscape, changing lives, righting wrongs, and bringing joy to every soul they encounter.
Age Range: 10 – 14 years
Grade Level: 5 – 8
Paperback: 144 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens; First Edition edition (August 5, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1599902885
ISBN-13: 978-1599902883
PURCHASE HERE!
After publishing Rapunzel's Revenge and Calamity Jack, one of the most common questions posed to me and my husband/cowriter Dean is: "What is it like to collaborate?" We made this 90 second film hoping to shed more light on that question.
So, does that answer your question? #helpful
We made this movie a couple of years ago for our talk at the SCIBA dinner (So-Cal indie booksellers). We also demonstrated our collaborative process through a Spanish telenovela and interpretive movement, as is our wont. I think it was enlightening--especially for those in attendance who had taken advantage of the open bar. Our dear friend An Dinh shot and edited it. He and his awesome wife Tamiyah make a random appearance. Shout out to Bugsy the Guinea Pig, the true star of this work.
A few weeks ago I posted a review of a new and very exciting graphic novel called
Calamity Jack. This title is a follow on to the Hales' first graphic novel,
Rapunzel's Revenge. The two authors and the illustrator very graciously agreed to do an interview about their new book.
First I talked to Shannon and Dean, the authors:
Marya: Did you know that you would be writing a story about Calamity Jack when you wrote Rapunzel’s Revenge?
SH: Hi Marya! When we pitched RR, we only had a partial script, and Bloomsbury offered us a 2-book deal. At that point, we had to decide, sequel or something entirely new? As we wrote RR, we realized Jack was our guy. Though it’s not told in RR, we created it during that process.
DH: Yeah, I think we knew pretty early the second book would be about Jack, but the story itself took a while to actually come together.
Marya: The adventures in this story combine fantasy, fairytale, and technology. How did you come around to creating such a delightfully bizarre world?
SH: We took things we love and stuffed them all together: fairy tale characters and creatures, steampunk, comic books, capers, action, comedy, romance! Why not? We didn’t want to skimp.
DH: The trick was to not make the story *about* all those cool things. The best thing to carry a story is a character, I think, and once we figure that out, sprinkle in the cool. I did lobby for the bandersnatch to be the main character, but Shannon didn’t think people could relate to it. I had no problems relating, but that’s just me.
SH: The only person I know who could relate to a mute creature with mouths for eyes.
Marya: Jack’s efforts to gain honor, respect, and love seems to lie at the heart of the story. Was this always your intention or did Jack claim this for himself as you were writing?
SH: Jack claimed this himself. While we knew the basics of his story, we didn’t know why. We wrote two completely different stories for Jack before the final, but they fell flat. It was such a relief when his underlying story finally revealed itself.
DH: I think that was all a part of finding his character, finding what it was about him that made him interesting and human. Once that was finally taken care of, I felt a lot more comfortable with the giant ants.
Rapunzel doesn’t know there’s anything wrong with her life – a gorgeous villa, plenty of food, servants and guards, a powerful mother named Mother Gothel – until she manages to finally scale the high wall that surrounds her opulent home. Beyond it lies an industrial wasteland, starving workers policed by vicious guards, and… Rapunzel’s real mother, a worker dressed in rags whose baby was taken from her by Mother Gothel. Rapunzel furiously confronts Mother Gothel, who has her taken away and imprisoned at the top of the world’s highest tree. After five long years, Mother Gothel’s “growth magic” (the source of her power, as she can not only make things grow but keep them from growing) causes Rapunzel’s hair to grow to extraordinary lengths, allowing her to finally escape her prison.
Rapunzel takes up with a young lad named Jack (who travels with a goose who simply won’t lay an egg, a magic bean, and a number of other surprises) and they have an assortment of excellent adventures, greatly aided by Rapunzel’s hair, which she can use as a lasso or whip to great effect. All’s well that ends well – the intrepid duo rescues Rapunzel’s mom, vanquish Mother Gothel, and fall in love.
This works well as a graphic novel – the derring-do translates well to action-packed panels, as do the goofy visual gags. The setting is a fairy tale Wild West, and the sight of Rapunzel riding a horse with her copious braids coiled at her saddle like an orange lasso is priceless. The illustrations portray the humor of the story wonderfully, showing particular imagination in how folks are clothed.
Humor, both dry and broadly slapstick, bounces along on every page. There is plenty of silly banter between Rapunzel and Jack, and it only gets mushy at the absolute very end. Raging boars, snaggle-toothed and bearded bad guys, a ravening antler-wearing rabbit, and that ever-present goose provide non-stop goofy excitement, and Rapunzel’s hair is so much a part of the story that its eventual fate feels almost tragic.
Anyone who loves fractured fairy tales will dive right into this luscious tale, only wishing it were longer. Readers who enjoyed the graphic novel versions of
Coraline and
Artemis Fowl should also give this a whirl – boys as well as girls will like it, if they just get past the first few pages.
For readers ages 10 and up.
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By:
Chris Rettstatt,
on 3/29/2008
Blog:
Chris Rettstatt
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The other book I was pulling for in deliberations for this year’s Cybils award was Book of a Thousand Days, by Shannon Hale. For me, this book was all about the details: the grit of daily life in the tower, the details of Dashti’s previous life on the steppes, the relentless believability that ran from the first page to the last. It was a fantastic story, and I’m so glad it was one of the two winners in the fantasy / science fiction category.
Shannon has two young children, and so I promised to keep the interview short.
Chris) How did you go about researching Mongolian culture for Book of a Thousand Days?
Shannon: My parents lived in Mongolia for a year and a half, so I had some great first hand knowledge, and I sent questions for their Mongolian friends. i also read books, especially the fantastic Ghengis Khan and the Making of the Modern World.
Chris) In Book of a Thousand Days, how satisfying was it to heap so much hardship on a fairytale princess?
Shannon: Ha! Yes, there was some of that. I wanted to make sure I was being honest, and fairy tales sometimes slant things in favor of the well-born. One attraction of this story for me was its difference from Goose Girl–a chance to see a maid’s POV and hear her voice.
Chris) As a father of 7-month-old twin girls, I have to ask: how the heck do you get any writing done? (I’ve finally learned to hold one on my lap while I’m typing, but the problem is she starts typing too).
Shannon: I don’t actually write anymore. I bid on manuscripts on ebay and hope I win. No, it’s all a balancing act. I take a little time here and there. No waiting for a muse–grab whatever time I can! And I’ve slowed way down. I get into more detail about that on my site: http://www.squeetus.com/stage/mince_mother.html
Chris) What are you working on now?
Shannon: My husband and I co-wrote a graphic novel for young readers, Rapunzel’s Revenge, which will be out this fall (the illustrations are so freakin’ cool). I’m working on a fourth Bayern book and a new contemporary book for adults.
Eva!
Thanks for all the fine reviews. They help in seeing things not in a monochromatically either - or, but in the ageless complex terms - insightful to the human condition. Tomorrow, I look forward to your wit and brevity in '09.
Happy New Year!
%-) Picasso' cross-eyed way of seeing
Genie