Sugar Cane: A Caribbean Rapunzel

A retelling of Rapunzel in a Caribbean setting. I really enjoyed this one! The illustrations were perfect - colorful, evocative, timeless. The story had a lot more words than I'm used to in a children's picture book which I loved. I also loved that the parents never gave up looking for their daughter after the sorceress took Sugar Cane. I thought it quite clever that Madame Fate, being a conjure-woman, resurrected great teachers and philosophers to educate Sugar Cane in her tower by the sea.

Other fun, creative touches: a pet green monkey called Callaloo who has a wicked sweet tooth; Sugar Cane escaped using a hair ladder; Sugar Cane doesn't just sing but plays instruments and basically makes music with anything and everything she can - show more she lives music.

The young man she falls in love with is called King but he is an ordinary guy who loves music as much as Sugar Cane. Their relationship was discovered because Sugar Cane let slip his name during a conversation with Madame Fate. Like her parents, King never gave up searching for Sugar Cane. And, in the end, she was reunited with her parents at her wedding to King.

5 stars show less

Wow, the ART in this is sooo beautiful! I've only seen a few other children's books this beautiful. Very few.

Content warnings:
use of the Roma slur

Sugar Cane is a fairly straightforward reinterpretation of Rapunzel set in the Caribbean. There's a few cute and surprising little changes, but altogether it's Rapunzel (whether that's good or bad is up to you). The writing is pretty good - sometimes beautiful - but what really does stand out is the art. The colors and textures in each picture make everything interesting to look at - over and over again. I'm almost tempted to get this for a friend just for that.

Anyway, I love the increase of multicultural children's books, and I hope the number of them continues to rise. Kids of all kinds show more deserve to see themselves in all sorts of stories! show less

This rendition of a classic fairy tale in a Caribbean setting is more than just a retelling. The tone, descriptive imagery, and lyricality of the book provide a fresh renewal of the story. This book would add cultural diversity to any collection.

This book is based on a Caribbean Rapunzel. She was locked up in a sugar cane that eventually grew and began singing. A young man, who overheard her, might have the answers in breaking the spell she was in. I really enjoyed this book because it involves a different culture background. People who read this book can get different perspectives based on the culture.

This book was well written and captivating to the reader. Although it was captivating, there were large portions of the text that were on one page, which could make it difficult for the readers to stay attentive.

This book was well written and captivating to the reader. Although it was captivating, there were large portions of the text that were on one page, which could make it difficult for the readers to stay attentive.

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 show more 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. show less