ALA Booklist (Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 2017)

In Woollvin's newest fairy tale retelling, Rapunzel isn't a stereotypical damsel in distress waiting around for a knight in shining armor. Per usual, the evil witch has trapped Rapunzel in the tall, dark tower all alone and threatened to curse her if she ever tries to escape. "But is Rapunzel frightened? Oh no, not she!" She devises a way to escape on sojourns and fills her days with exploring the outside world and formulating a plan to free herself from the witch forever. When the witch next pays her a visit, using Rapunzel's hair, Rapunzel simply snips her tresses, and the witch tumbles to her demise. Rapunzel is now free (and with a cute bob to boot) and can devote the rest of her life to capturing other witches. Utilizing simple, bold strokes of yellow, black, and gray inks, Woollvin expressively fills each page with eye-catching details that will bring readers back for another look. Fans of her Little Red (2016) will enjoy her latest feisty and intelligent heroine.

Horn Book (Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2018)

Woollvin (Little Red) updates another Grimms favorite with a can-do, self-rescuing heroine--there's no prince in sight. Rapunzel resides in a tower, trapped by a witch; not having it, Rapunzel climbs down her own hair, dispatches the witch, and graduates to a life of witch-hunting. The direct, energetic text keeps the pace taut. Bold, graphic gouache illustrations capture modern and traditional elements and offer sly tidbits of humor.

Kirkus Reviews

A resourceful Rapunzel turns the tale askew. Employing the same cropped, shifty-eyed cover style as her previous work (Little Red, 2016), Woollvin hints at mischief right at the start. This time, a certain gal with long golden locks is not as helpless as she may appear. Woollvin begins with Rapunzel already in the tower; there's no mention of how she got there. But a witch, in a modish black hooded dress that makes it look as though she's wearing a black traffic cone, keeps her imprisoned. The fairy tale's well-known refrain is only sounded once: "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!" but readers will appreciate the hint of familiarity. No prince is needed in this version; instead Rapunzel uses her own hair to climb out of the tower and makes friends with woodland creatures who help her escape. She defeats the witch with cunning ingenuity—and advice from a book titled How to Defeat Witches. The blocky gouache illustrations in gray and black, strategically accented with yellow (such as the witch's bloomers as well as Rapunzel's hair), heighten the timbre, suggesting both deviousness and joy. A damsel no more, Rapunzel dons a black Zorro mask and takes on the rest of the witches in the forest (all of whom are as white as Rapunzel, but one is delightfully bearded). Empowerment in leaps and bounds. (Picture book. 4-8)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

It-s about time that Rapunzel saved herself, and in Woollvin-s sly follow-up to 2016-s Little Red, she does exactly that. Rapunzel-s hair, the witch-s gold-patterned knickers, and other unexpected treasures stand out in brilliant yellow while the rest of the scenery-Rapunzel-s tower and the stubby forest that surrounds it-is painted in blacks and grays. The witch, whose cloak sticks out from her body like it-s made of cardboard, hoists herself up the tower and into Rapunzel-s room, where she brushes her captive-s long tresses, then snips several locks -to sell for riches.- Despite the threat of a -terrible curse,- Rapunzel isn-t intimidated in the least: she finds a way to let herself out and spends hours in the forest making friends and reading How to Defeat Witches. When the witch finds a leaf in her hair Rapunzel doesn-t flinch: -The wind must have blown that in through the window,- she says coolly. Thanks to Woollvin, readers may grow up thinking this just-wicked-enough retelling is the classic one; if they ever stumble across versions with the prince, they may wonder why he was thought necessary. Ages 5-9. (Oct.)

School Library Journal (Sun Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 2017)

K-Gr 3 Rapunzel is a spunky girl with hair made of gold. The witch who climbs her tresses daily, steals some to sell and threatens a terrible curse if Rapunzel should ever leave the tower where she's kept captive. (At this juncture, readers find a hilarious picture of an irate frog with long yellow hair.) But this clever girl realizes that if the witch can get into the tower via her hair, she can use it to get out. After befriending a horsenot a princein the forest at the foot of her tower, Rapunzel formulates a plan to escape both the witch and her curse. The resolution is a bit violent, but not nearly as much as the original fairy tale, and it's more empowering. Woollvin's first book, Little Red , introduced readers to her quirky, folkloric black, white, and gray illustrations enlivened by a single, startling primary color on the heroine. VERDICT Children will adore Rapunzel and cheer her victory over evil personified. A perfect length for storytime and those seeking fairy tale variants. Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NY