Letters from Rapunzel

Once upon a time, there was a girl. Let's call her Rapunzel. A modern-day version. Abandoned. Alone. Waiting for her hair to grow and dreaming of a way to escape from her tower. She was trapped, you see. Not in the conventional fairy-tale way—this was the dreaded after-school Homework Club. A desolate place, where no gum could be chewed, and where Rapunzel sat day after day, cursing the evil spell that had been cast over her father. The doctors called it something else, but a true heroine can smell an evil spell a mile away. So when a mysterious letter addressed to P.O. Box #5667 falls into her hands, she knows she's found the pea under her mattress. But since when is finding happily ever after as simple as Just Writing Back?

Winner of the Ursula Nordstrom Fiction Contest, Sara Lewis Holmes's enchanting debut novel is a breath of fresh air. Told through letters, with a liberal sprinkling of fairy dust, Rapunzel's quest for a happy ending gives every reader something to believe in.

"This moving debut novel, winner of the first Ursula Nordstrom Fiction Contest, unfolds as a series of letters, fairytale-inspired stories and tongue-in-cheek school assignments — all penned by an intelligent girl who calls herself Rapunzel. After her beloved poet father is hospitalized with clinical depression (what she calls 'the Evil Spell'), she finds a soul-baring letter her father had written, addressed to a post office box. She decides to write notes to the P.O. box too, hoping that the recipient will respond and 'together we can rescue him' [her father]. She confides in another letter that she identifies with Rapunzel ('She's not much of a heroine — just a victim in a tower') because she, too, feels 'stuck.' The plot gains new dimension when she finds, tucked into her father's dictionary, a clipping announcing that an old bridge is for sale and scheduled for dismantling — and later learns its significance to her father. Rapunzel (whose fitting real name, revealed late in the novel, is Cadence) pours out her pain and hope in equal measure, as she holds out for the 'Happy Ending' that doesn't entirely emerge. The narrator's missives take on the conversational tone characteristic of middle graders, and many poignant passages as the heroine struggles with her father's illness, as well as the mysterious identity of the P.O. box owner, will keep thoughtful readers involved. Ages 8-12. (Mar.) " Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

This debut novel follows a young girl who calls herself Rapunzel and wishes her life was more fairy tale than real. When an evil spell is cast over her father, a mysterious letter falls into her hands--one that may help break the spell.

Sara Holmes has lived in eleven states and three countries and now lives in Lorton, Va. Letters from Rapunzelis her first novel and the winner of the first annual Ursula Nordstrom Fiction Contest.