rapunzel's revenge

At the geek formal of the year, we made several visits to Cory's favorite Toronto sci-fi bookstore, Bakkaphoenix. On our second trip, we discovered an amazing graphic novel: Rapunzel's Revenge


We grabbed it, read it when we got home, and decided to give it our 5 1/2 year-old daughter Meridian for Christmas.

Christmas morning, Meridian came down and had a moment of inspired honesty.
"Mom, I'm kind of disappointed."
"Why, honey?"
"There are a lot of really flat presents, so I think a lot of them are books."

The second present she unwrapped was Rapunzel. She opened it up and started paging through it. And kept paging. And kept paging. 45 minutes of obliviousness-to-the-world later -- we were talking to her, getting coffee, and wondering aloud when she'd want to return to her pile of still unopened presents and she just kept reading -- she closed the book and looked up.

"I didn't like that."

Trying hard not to burst out laughing we asked why not.

"More of the faces seemed angry or scared than happy."
"Would you like us to read it you so you can see what happens? It has a happy ending."
"OK"

Several sessions later -- it's a long story -- Meridian decided that she liked it after all. It has since become a regular fixture of her reading schedule, both reading it alone or with other kids and having adults read it to her. It's a great retelling of the fairy tale and lots of fun. Good to know there will be a sequel!

So, kudos, congratulations, and thank yous to Shannon and Dean Hale, and Nathan Hale (no relation). You can read all about how the book came to be on their website.