I really enjoyed this retelling of the classic Rapunzel story. I think that it's grounding in a well described and portrayed cultural setting might have actually made it more identifiable than the original for kids today. The illustrations also have to be beautiful and the design thoughtful and balanced.

This book is a good example of a fairytale because there was conflict in Sugar Cane being confined to the tower and not being able to see King.
Sugar Cane is a good example of the main character she is dynamic and has conflict and emotions in seeing the love of her life.
Art Media:watercolor

This is a good example of a fairy tale. When the mother is pregnant with Sugar Cane, the father goes to get her sugar cane, but ends up in the witch's garden. As part of the deal, she says she will come to get their baby. Sugar Cane is locked in a tower and eventually escapes and finds her prince on another part of the island. ( )

This is a wonderful book. It has beautiful, rich illustrations, and it has wonderfully poetic text. The story is much more fleshed out than many versions of Rapunzel - and I'm not ashamed to admit how happy I am to have a princess story that avoids all that long blond hair. I'm tired of my two biracial nieces complaining about their hair because it's "not princess hair". Really, it breaks my heart to hear it.

I firmly recommend this to any child's library. One major caveat though - this is a long book. A LONG one. And it's hard to cut out the text without really selling the story short. It takes easily 25 minutes to read on its own - and that's if you rush and don't spend any time to really enjoy and appreciate the art or to savor the words you just read.

Don't try this on any child too young to have any real attention span (there's a reason this book is listed as appropriate for children over the age of 4) and don't try this when you don't have the time. You'll just cheat yourself. Set aside some real time for this one - it's worth it. ( )

Genre: Middle school
Age Appropriateness:
Media: colored pencil and watercolor
Review: This is a good example of a folktale, because it is the story of Rapunzel in a Caribbean setting. This is a story that has been told over and over again. I am not sure I would read this any under 12. There were parts of the story that were a bit scary and the subject matter would not be appropriate for school age children. ( )