Letters from Rapunzel
By: Sara Lewis Holmes
I never read the jacket flap for this one, the title just intrigued me. Fairy tales you know! But I was in for a surprise - this is not the Rapunzel from the tales we are familiar. This Rapunzel is a modern-day girl whose father suffers from "evil spells" as she calls them, and while looking through some of his things finds a post-office box that her father writes to. Thinking that the person receiving the letters is a friend, Rapunzel begins writing and signing her letters as Rapunzel. The letters are a form of therapy for her, as she writes about her feelings and asks this person to help her dad.
As the days go by and she doesn't receive a response she contemplates stopping the letters, but then she figures she has nothing better to do in homework club after school since she can't go home anymore because of her father being away. Our Rapunzel also includes different writings she does for assignments and then just on her own. Her wit is fabulous. I thoroughly enjoyed her comments and responses on her assignments, but I can see why a teacher wouldn't necessarily appreciate them!
Although our Rapunzel knows that her dad has C.D. (clinical depression, a.k.a. the evil spell) what she finds out from a boy she doesn't particularly like really upsets her and so she sets off to understand more about her dad, his evil spell, and herself. We also learn about ourselves and living our lives the best we can in the present while learning from our pasts.
Recommended To:
- Anyone feeling like something is just not right and can't quite figure it out - the letter writing may be the thing for you!
- Fans of the diary-format style
- Everyone!
Notes on the Cover:
The cover and the title were what attracted me to this book. Rapunzel sitting in her tower dropping the letters, just hoping someone would read them. On my first glance I focused on Rapunzel and the letters, but upon closer inspection we see modern houses with a street and sidewalk in white and off to the left. If I would have really been paying attention to the cover I would have hopefully realized that this tale wasn't quite what I was expecting, but it's still a good book about dealing with one's emotions and how to let our frustration, happiness, pain, anger, joy and so much more out in a healthy way.
On our shelves!