Sugar Cane: A Caribbean Rapunzel

by Patricia Storace

"You live in a tower without a stair, Sugar Cane, Sugar Cane, let down your hair." Stolen away from her parents on her first birthday by island sorceress Madam Fate, beautiful Sugar Cane grows up in a tower overlooking the sea. With only a pet green monkey named Callaloo for company, Sugar Cane is lonely-her only consolation is her love of music. Often she stands at her window and sings, imagining that the echo of her voice?is someone answering her...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786807911
• ISBN13: 9780786807918
• Release Date: June 2007
• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Length: 48 Pages
• Weight: 1.51 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 8.9" x 11.3"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

Great book!

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.

Excellent children's book

This is a fine telling of the Rapunzel story, set in the Carribean. Well told and well illustrated. My daughter (10) loves this book.

Gorgeous!

I ordered this on the strength of a review of recent renderings of the Rapunzel myth in The New York Review of Books ("The Girl in the Tower" by Alison Lurie, May 1, 2008), which also explored why this story has such staying power. The artwork is beautiful and the story is well told, with a very scary sorceress as the villain. This is a far cry from the usual wan blond waiting for help in the tower.

Sugar Cane

I brought this book for my niece I read it loved it and neicey may have to read it at my house. I could actually feel the characters I am having a hard time giving it up

Sweet as honey on the vine

A small girl child comes up to you. She wants a fairy tale. You are the librarian she is asking a book from. You are entirely on your own. A couple options open themselves up to you. If the word "princess" spills from this child's lips then you may have a problem. Those insidious Disney Princesses are probably what this girl is referring to and you're going to have a heckuva time convincing her that there is any other kind of princess in the world. Sometimes, though, you get a girl child that doesn't care what kind of princess book you find, just so long as it's pretty. At that point, you have a couple options. You could locate Sneed's version of Thumbelina and McClintock's version of Cinderella. You could try your hand at a little Trina Schart Hyman or Nancy Ekholm Burkert (if you're feeling brave). There's even Paul Zelinsky's Rapunzel and Rumpelstiltskin for flavor. Of course, these princess stories have one thing in common with Snow White and it's not her penchant for apples. A good librarian mixes it up a little. There will be some The Girl Who Spun Gold and a touch of Sukey and the Mermaid (Aladdin Picture Books) slipped in amongst the tales. And now I urge you to add to all of these Patricia Strace's new retelling of Rapunzel, "Sugar Cane". Illustrated by the frighteningly talented Raul Colon, Strace's first picture book for children takes all the wonder of the original tale, then spices it up without descending into stereotype or parody. If you're looking for a retelling of a classic, this little book may well have your number. For you see, there once was a fisherman and his wife. One day the wife became pregnant, and the man was overjoyed for her. Unfortunately, that was when the cravings began. The wife begged and pleaded with the husband to fetch her some sugar cane for the baby. Not able to travel all the way across the island to the sugar farms, the man instead found a hidden garden and house in the midst of the forest. Thinking himself unobserved he fetched the sugar cane for his wife. When he attempted the same trick a second time, however, Madame Fate the sorceress caught him and told him that she would have his child in return. Sure enough, by the time little Sugar Cane's first birthday rolled around, the woman stole her away (to her parents' tears). Sugar Cane grew up musically inclined with conjured educators from the past to teach her. It is in this state, as a young woman, that the son of a fisherman named King found her and the two struck up a friendship. Of course, none of this pleases the sorceress particularly when she made aware of the state of things. What follows is a tale of Sugar Cane's sense of self-preservation, perseverance, and intelligence. The happy ending just happens to be a nice plus. Now, let's just make clear right now that this is an original story and NOT a different version of Rapunzel that you would find it in the Caribbean. Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood