Starred Review ALA Booklist (Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 2001)

Starred Review Trapped in a tower until she chooses between two equally ghastly suitors--an evil king and an insipid prince--Goose Girl needs a quick miracle. Enter her faithful, magical geese, which transport her away from the wedding dilemma and set in motion a classic adventure-chase that turns into a delightful, witty fairy-tale spoof. It seems Goose Girl's kindness to a shriveled old woman resulted in a reward: Goose Girl can form gold dust in her hair, cry tears of diamonds, and become a ravishing beauty--talents that have brought about her marriage predicament: In the future I shall know precisely what to do if another old beggar woman comes pestering me while I'm herding my geese in the high meadow. Not easily discouraged, the dull prince pursues his darling and nearly becomes a meal for a hilariously disgusting trio of ogresses, who just happen to have captured his ladylove. After more escapes and perilous flights, Goose Girl falls into the clutches of the evil king. Just as the wedding is about to take place, the beggar woman arrives on the scene and works her magic. It seems the bold heroine was a princess all along, and the geese, when restored to their real form, are her older sisters. Kindl's humor, the strong characterizations, and vibrant action give the story wings. A happy ending is, of course, understood.

Starred Review for Publishers Weekly (Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

Kindl (Owl in Love) once again takes flight, this time proffering an engaging gaggle of a dozen geese and the orphaned Goose Girl who tends them. Eschewing a """"once upon a time"""" opening, the spunky narrator sets the novel's tone: """"What do I care for custom? 'Tis my own story I am telling and I will tell it as I please."""" Goose Girl addresses the audience from the high tower in which she is trapped by a king and prince (from dueling kingdoms), both of whom covet her hand, her golden tresses (which yield gold dust) and her tears (which turn to diamonds), not to mention her beauty the latter three were gifts from a mysterious old woman to whom the girl showed some kindness. Luckily, her 12 charges evade the royals and organize their keeper's rescue. Kindl draws on a wealth of fairy tale lore to describe what follows. The geese deposit Goose Girl in a dilapidated cottage, where a trio of ogresses reside and promptly take her captive; the prince tracks her down, and Baba Yaga fans will recognize a few of the heroine's tricks that help her escape. Next, Goose Girl and the prince are cast into a dungeon belonging to an ally of the aforementioned king (that initial high tower of entrapment is not the only reference to Rapunzel Goose Girl's hair here comes to her aid). Those familiar with the Brothers Grimm's """"The Six Swans"""" may not be surprised by the ending, but it's how Kindl gets there, tying up all loose ends along the way, that will hold readers' attention. Ages 10-14. (Apr.)

Horn Book

Alexandria, the sharp-tongued heroine of this farcical fairy tale, is a "simple Goose Girl," orphaned and alone. Then an old woman gives her three "gifts": her hair emits gold dust, her tears turn to diamonds, and her face is "as lovely as the dawn." It's no wonder she winds up locked in a tower. Readers can't help but become invested in Alexandria's sometimes comical, sometimes harrowing plight.

Kirkus Reviews

Kindl, who brought readers the perfectly droll Owl in Love (1993) and the magically metaphoric Woman in the Wall (1997), this time offers a winsome and wickedly funny fairytale fractured in multiple places. Taking elements freely from a handful—at least—of familiar fairytales, she's made one of energy and spirit and no small amount of high hilarity. When the tale opens, the Goose Girl, the narrator, is stuck in a tower, kept prisoner because she doesn't like her prospective marital choices. The Prince is sweet but dim; and the King is wicked and blackhearted. The Goose Girl, whose name is actually Alexandria Aurora Fortunato, has been blessed with a number of attributes that could be useful: her tears are diamonds, and when she combs her hair, gold dust falls from it. But, she finds this all to be a pain, and she suspects the royal men's interest in her stems from her profitability. She escapes the tower because her 12 geese rescue her, and she continues to have adventures fending off ogresses (one with two heads) and escaping from capture and imprisonment, alone as well as with the feckless prince, whose heart has led him in search of her and whose mouth gets them in deeper trouble with great regularity. The geese pop up regularly, too, and Alexandria's golden hair has a recurring role as an escape tool. When true love blossoms, the Goose Girl is found to be royal, and her geese freed to be her sisters once again, readers will rejoice. Running the gamut from quiet chuckles to laugh-out-loud guffaws, this promises delight in great profusion to generations of readers now and to come. (Fiction. 10-14)

School Library Journal

Gr 6-9-When an orphaned Goose Girl gives bread to an old beggar woman, the hag rewards her with a spell that makes her beautiful and rich, with her tears crystallizing into diamonds and gold dust falling from her hair. The desirable young woman then attracts a tyrannical king and a seemingly dim-witted prince, both of whom want to marry her. Determined to stay single, Alexandria Aurora Fortunato endures imprisonment in a tower; an escape that finds her in the valley of the grave-stealing, cannibalistic yet bumbling ogresses; and other dangers before she learns that she is a princess and that the 12 geese she tended are, in fact, her sisters. Her many adventures, while amusing, bog down the story a bit, leaving readers ready for a resolution. Still, Alexandria is a witty, feisty, no-nonsense feminist, and her tale is told with tongue in cheek and lots of laugh-out-loud humor. While the story bares only slight resemblance to the classic "Goose Girl," other tales are added to the mix: the girl's magical hair grows very long and she wears glass slippers. Kindl's writing is full of imagery and alliteration, and is peppered with old-fashioned and nonsense words that add to the fun. With its touch of romance, this coming-of-age story will appeal to teens who enjoy fantasy based on fairy tales.-Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.