Paul O. ZelinskyRessenyes

Rumpelstiltskin was always one of my favorite fairytales. I think we discussed this in our fairytale and folklore unit, but I was always more upset by the fact that Rumpelstiltskin was the victim in all of this, not the miller or his daughter. While the promise of wealth and living comfortably would have been a dream come true for any poor family, the miller's daughter eventually ended up marrying a man (the king) who, if she hadn't been able to spin straw into gold, would have ended up killing her. I'm not quite sure what kind of message that sends to young readers. The line between good and evil is hazy at best. Personally, I think Rumple was pigeonholed as the "villian" because of his looks and his way of life; the king, on the other hand, because of his wealth, was cast as the "hero." I don't think the messaging in this fairytale is good, per se, but the story is interesting and I always enjoyed the way Rumple wanted to help the miller's daughter, and even though he asked for her first born child, in a way, I think perhaps he was in love with her and thought they could build a life and family together. I think this is an interesting story to read with young children and explore the idea of good and evil, and what that really means.

I love this book/song. Even though this is a different version, this still does the job. It’s crazy to see how these books have developed throughout the years but still manage to develop and get passed on. I liked how this book has the pop -ops incorporated in the book.

This is the older story of Rapunzel. I would recommend this book to 5th grade and up because some scenes/words are mature in this book. This book doesn't necessarily teach anything but it can spark imagination and allow students to practice reading skills.

Fairytale

Very common story, has been made it to many movies. I think this is for late intermediate or middle school This is the story of a child named Rapunzel she was taken by a sorceress and forced to live in a tower. She grew love for a prince and became with child. The sorceress grew angry and tried to kill the prince but her plan did not work. The prince and Rapunzel reunited and lived happy with their 2 children.

Caldecott Honor Book artist Paul O. Zelinsky's remarkable command of color, texture, and light bring to life the loved story of Rumpelstiltskin.

This traditional tale of the miller's daughter needing to spin straw into gold is beautifully illustrated with rich, detailed oil painting illustrations. Students in PK - 5th will delight in this tale of a strange, yet talented, little man that helps the miller's daughter out of her dire situation.

I love, love, love this fairytale! It makes me laugh every time. I wish there were more such simple and fun stories.

Primary-Intermediate
The story of Rapunzel, who is trapped in a tower by a sorceress.
Good for an introduction to fairytales

I love this version of the story with gorgeous oil paintings. Rumpelstiltskin was a character who used to haunt my dreams. He was so tricky! I love the picture of him flying around his fire on a giant wooden spoon. The paintings are lovely and expressive.

This retelling of the fairy tale Rapunzel is gorgeously illustrated by the author by paintings in a Renaissance style in a reflection of the tale’s Italian origins. Similarly, the settings look decidedly Tuscan.

The author provides a history of the fairy tale in his Afterword.

While this picture book is for older children, even they may not understand the reference to Rapunzel’s pregnancy or even how it happened. But using the lovely story and the illustrations, adults could even use it as an opportunity to get into the birds and the bees.

This book tells a hopeful fairytale about Rapunzel and her journey from a prisoner in a tower to a Princess with a family. The book finished with a couple of pages about the history of this folk tale and the originations of the various versions of Rapunzel’s story. The illustrations in this book are finely detailed oil paintings. The vast color pallet used adds to the fantasy element of the story and contributes to the hopeful theme of the story. I think this book would be best appropriate for grades second through fourth.

The story of this little man and his ability to turn yarn into gold is funny but it also shows what can happen when you don't do what you are asked to do.

This traditional tale is retold by Paul O. Zelinsky with award winning art on each page. At the end of the book is a note from the author giving historical background about this version of the famous fairytale. This book is a Caldecott Honor Book.

This is a retelling of the Grimm's folktale. It has beautiful illustrations, and a great story. Not only is it an interesting story that everyone knows some version of, but it can definitely be used in the classroom. For math you can tell the story using tangrams when introducing them. You can teach a geometry lesson with the pictures because they show symmetric objects that have reflections, translations, and rotations. You can also use it to have the students estimate the height of the tower, and the length of her hair. So this book not only helps provide the reader with an interesting well-known folktale, but also a chance to bring in learning from places they would never think of.

This dark , creative and interesting story takes place in a fair tale story that teaches the value of not offering things you don’t have . The daughter of a of a poor man lock in a tower to spin gold , until an unlikely character appears and offers help but there is a price to pay . This book would connect with my class when teaching folk tales , and traditional literacy.

A gorgeously illustrated retelling of the Grimms’ famous tale.

When Rapunzel's mom is pregnant, she gets a craving for the herb Rapunzel. Her husband sneaks into a garden next door to get her this herb, but he is caught by a witch. He explains that his pregnant wife needs the herb or she feels like she may die. The witch allows him to take the herb as long as she can have the first born child. The witch takes Rapunzel away and locks her in a tower. One day a prince is riding by and hears her singing. He knows how to go up to see Rapunzel because he had seen the witch call for Rapunzel to let down her hair. He does the same, and he goes up to meet her. They get married quickly. Later Rapunzel tells the witch her dress is tight, and she realizes Rapunzel is pregnant. Outraged, she throws her out of the tower and banishes her to a forest. She believes that the prince will not be able to find her, but he does, and they go to his kingdom to live happily ever after. This is a good book to read to children because it's a classic and many children enjoy princess stories. Rapunzel was always a story I liked to read as a kid, so other children would probably feel the same. In a version I used to read it said that the witch made Rapunzel's mom crave the herb, and I wish this version would've too because it adds to her evil character.

The story of Rumpelstiltskin.
Themes -- fairy tales, tricks, promises
The pictures in this book are very lively and this would be a good read-aloud version of Rumpelstiltskin.

An old Miller tells the kin that his daughter can spin straw into gold to impress him. The king locks the daughter up with tons of straw and orders her to spin it into gold. Then Rumpelstiltskin comes and offers to help. He helps her three times and the first two times she has something to give him but the last time she doesn't so he tells her she must give him her first born and she agrees. Then when her first child is born he comes and says she can only get out of the deal if she can guess his name. Nevertheless she does after doing a lot of investigating. I always loved this story and even had the movie. I think the theme is being greedy. The miller was greedy and promised his daughter could do something she could not. The king was greedy when he kept wanting gold. Finally, Rumpelstiltskin was greedy because he took from the girl knowing she had no other options. I think this is a fun story for kids because it is suspenseful and keeps you wondering. I also think you can find many other themes in it and it promotes critical thinking.

A girl's father tells the king that she is able to spin straw into gold in order to impress him. The king calls her to the castle and locks her in a room filled with straw, threatening that she will die if she does not spin all of the straw into gold before morning. The girl begins to weep, and a strange little man comes in the room. He asks what she will give for him to spin the straw into gold, so she gives him her necklace. The little man works all night, spinning straw into gold, and the king is overjoyed when he arrives the next morning, thinking the girl did all of it herself. The king demands this of her two more nights, both where she must give something up in order to gain the help of the strange little man. The last night, the man returns again, but the girl has nothing left to give. He says that he will help her if she promises he will be given her firstborn child once she is queen. The girl and the king are wed and have a beautiful son. The little man shows up and demands what she promised him, but the queen begs and pleads. He says that if she can figure out what his name is in three days, she can keep her child. On the last day, she is panicking because she cannot guess correctly, so she decides to send a servant. The servant eventually finds the little man, and she hears his name in the chant he is singing. She hurries back to tell the queen. The little man is shocked when he returns and the queen guesses correctly, thrilled she is able to keep her child.

I was obviously familiar with this story, but I had not read the Zelinsky retelling. I loved the simple wording used throughout and the illustrations in the book. The illustrations were in a traditional fairy tale style, which I liked a lot as it seems to stay very authentic. I really enjoyed the read aloud video I watched on the YouTube channel Read Aloud with Mr. Paul. I noticed a lot of the techniques that we have discussed in class in his video. I would definitely play it in front of students to let them experience a book in a novel and engaging way, and I might not have had the chance to discover that without such unusual circumstances going on now.

In this book, we see the story of a young girl, Rapunzel, who got taken away from her parents at birth and raised by a sorceress.
While the mother was pregnant she would look out her window down on the forbidden garden below her and longed for a taste of the Rapunzel growing in the garden. One day the father went to pick some for his wife. The sorceress catches him and tells him that he has to give her the child once he is born.
The sorceress then raises her as her own. Once Rapunzel turns 12 the sorceress locks her in a tall castle in the woods.
One day a prince was passing by and heard her singing and fell in love. He made her let down her hair and climbed all the way to the top. They fell in love and she became pregnant. When the sorceress found out she banished Rapunzel to the woods and left her there. When the prince came back the sorceress threw him off the balcony and he went blind. He spent a year stumbling in the forest until he heard singing, the same voice he had fallen in love with. By this time Rapunzel had twins and was thrilled to see the prince. They went back to the land that the Prince ruled and lives a happy life there.

This story of Rapunzel is like the story I knew growing up with a few small differences. It starts with a man and woman struggling to get pregnant and then finally becoming pregnant. There was a private garden with no way to enter and the mother craved the Rapunzel in the garden. She demanded the man fetch it for her. He brought it to her, but the craving only grew, when he returned to get more a sorceress came from the ground telling him to stop stealing from her garden. The man explained the situation and the sorceress told him he could take the Rapunzel if her promised to give her their child, the man did not want his wife to suffer so he agreed. The sorceress received the child when she was born and locker her away in a tall tower with no way to enter. When the sorceress wanted to go up, she yelled for Rapunzel to let down her hair and used that to scale the tower. One day a prince heard Rapunzel’s beautiful voice and yelled for her to throw her hair down so he could reach her. They fell in love and began to meet only at night so the sorceress would not know. She soon became pregnant and the sorceress found out, she became furious and stranded Rapunzel into the wilderness where she gave birth to twins. The sorceress stayed in the tower awaiting the prince and pushed him from the tower, causing him to lose his eyesight. The prince wandered into the wilderness and heard Rapunzel’s voice. They reunited and he regained his eyesight, and the family returned to his kingdom and lived happily ever after.

This version of Rapunzel was different from the ones I grew up listening to, which was cool to read. It had an element to it that I think would appeal to older elementary even if they did know a different version of the story because it seems more mature. It would be a good book to use to compare and contrast when discussing fairy tales and the different cultures and versions that can represent the story.½

Everyone knows the story of Rumpelstiltskin, this is one fo the more generic stories about him.. I have always enjoyed these stories and I feel that Rumpelstiltskin is a great addition to the classroom library.

i like that this retelling stayed true to the original fairy tale but had a happy ending½