RAPUNZEL

Everything is romanticized in this version, told in a slightly archaic and elevated manner—a fairy tale with all the yearnings of a love story. The illustrations, whether they are isolated figures next to the text or full-blown spreads, glow with light-filled strokes; Berenzy (The Frog Prince, 1989) uses paint and colored pencils on black paper with distinguished results that appear in the folds in the characters' clothes and in the quality of light at different times of day. Rapunzel and the prince gaze at each other expressively, but there's more than eye contact in this tale; she bears twins. For the first time, the use of Rapunzel's hair as a ladder seems utterly viable; her tresses fill her tower room and one long braid trails down the spine of the book. (Picture book/folklore. 4-8)