Books like Rapunzel
By Barbara Rogasky
For families who love a classic fairy tale told with full seriousness and real beauty, this is the Rapunzel that stays with you after the book closes. Lush, moody, and a little terrifying in the best fairy-tale way.
A young woman faces down a ferocious lion to save her father, then discovers he's a cursed prince — and must set out on a seven-year quest to free him from an enchantress's spell.
A jealous queen orders a princess killed for being more beautiful than her, but a hunter spares the girl, who finds refuge with seven dwarfs — until a poisoned apple nearly finishes what the queen started.
A poor woodcutter's two children, abandoned in the forest, discover a house made of bread, cakes, and candy — and the wicked witch who lives there has a taste for children.
A beautiful young princess with skin white as snow and lips red as blood becomes the target of a jealous queen's rage, and must find refuge and courage far from the castle.
Seven sisters, each with her own special talent, must join forces and race to rescue their baby Seventh Sister after a hungry dragon snatches her away.
A mistreated girl endures her stepmother's and stepsisters' cruelty until a fairy godmother steps in with magical help, leading her to a meeting with the prince.
Cursed bald at birth by the wicked fairy Malevola, a princess grows up and wishes for golden hair — only to find that too much hair brings its own troubles.
A girl with impossibly long golden hair is locked away in a tower by the sorceress who raised her, with no door and no way out — until a prince hears her singing to the birds.
An imaginary friend waits and waits to be chosen by a child, and when no one picks him, he does the unimaginable — he leaves his island to find his perfect match himself.
A boy afraid to go to school rides his grandfather's 1952 Ford time machine back through Big Papa's own frightening moments, hearing the same lesson each time: that's called being brave.
A brave boy ignores his grandfather's warnings about the dangers lurking beyond the garden gate and sets out to face a wolf, determined to catch it himself.
