Before Rapunzel's birth, her mother made a dangerous deal with the sorceress Melisande: If she could not love newborn Rapunzel just as she appeared...
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Dec 10, 2011
Cara
rated it: 
I wanted to hug this book literally when I was done. Perfect . Exactly what a true fairy tale should be. I'm seriously thinking about reading ALL Rapunzel retellings to see if there is one out there that can do it better than Dokey.
Rapunzel is bald. What? Yeah I didn't think I could get on board with this but it worked. The sorceress isn't evil and Rapunzel doesn't end up with a prince per say. So some major changes. Unlike last time (with Sunlight and Shadow)the length didn't hurt More...
Rapunzel is bald. What? Yeah I didn't think I could get on board with this but it worked. The sorceress isn't evil and Rapunzel doesn't end up with a prince per say. So some major changes. Unlike last time (with Sunlight and Shadow)the length didn't hurt More...
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Feb 05, 2012
Valerie
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I have no real complaints about this book. It is the most satisfying book I've read of the series so far (I've read 3 of them just so you know).
Rapunzel starts off by telling us that the tale we have grown up with about her is inaccurate and she precedes to tell us the real story. The story sure has its differences: Rapunzel is bald, the sorceress is good, a prince is involved but isn't the only one to take credit in saving Rapuzel, and Rapunzel doesn't get stuck in a tower until nea More...
Rapunzel starts off by telling us that the tale we have grown up with about her is inaccurate and she precedes to tell us the real story. The story sure has its differences: Rapunzel is bald, the sorceress is good, a prince is involved but isn't the only one to take credit in saving Rapuzel, and Rapunzel doesn't get stuck in a tower until nea More...
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Nov 16, 2010
Anne
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Rapunzel is, well, perhaps not what you’d expect. As bald as an egg, raised by a sorceress, and actually not the most polite young lady ever to pull all the carrots out of a garden. But she does have the ability to see the truth. And into the hearts of almost everyone.
Except herself.
And maybe that of the tinker’s boy who insists upon calling her Parsley.
Quite a bit of fun and a surprisingly radical tale for one so often stuck up in a tower.
Except herself.
And maybe that of the tinker’s boy who insists upon calling her Parsley.
Quite a bit of fun and a surprisingly radical tale for one so often stuck up in a tower.
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Aug 19, 2009
Ash
rated it:
This is a very original take on the classic fairy-tale of Rapunzel. Instead of the sorceress being an evil old women who locks Rapunzel up in a tower until she's saved by the prince, it's COMPLETELY different.
Quick Overview: Rapunzel is born completely bald, the one stuck in a tower is the sorceress's daughter Rue, who is not put there by the sorceress, and the prince doesn't technically save anyone from a tower. The sorceress finds Rapunzal's father stealing rapunzel(of course) from h More...
Quick Overview: Rapunzel is born completely bald, the one stuck in a tower is the sorceress's daughter Rue, who is not put there by the sorceress, and the prince doesn't technically save anyone from a tower. The sorceress finds Rapunzal's father stealing rapunzel(of course) from h More...
Jan 13, 2008
Debbie
rated it:
Have I ever mentioned how much I love fairy tales?
Golden is a beautifully done retelling of Rapunzel. Melisande the sorceress catches a man stealing an herb, rapunzel (parsely), from her garden because his pregnant wife has a craving. The mother, although beautiful, is selfish and is unable to love her newborn daughter because the girl was born completely bald. Melisande adopts the girl, who remains bald. When Rapunzel is 16, she learns that Melisande has a daughter who is trappe More...
Golden is a beautifully done retelling of Rapunzel. Melisande the sorceress catches a man stealing an herb, rapunzel (parsely), from her garden because his pregnant wife has a craving. The mother, although beautiful, is selfish and is unable to love her newborn daughter because the girl was born completely bald. Melisande adopts the girl, who remains bald. When Rapunzel is 16, she learns that Melisande has a daughter who is trappe More...
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Dec 10, 2011
Libby ♥ ιм ℓιтєяαℓℓу fαℓℓιи
rated it:
Golden: A Retelling of "Rapunzel"
By Cameron Dokey
Overall star rating: 4.5/5 stars
Rating: PG
Plot originality: 5/5 stars
I loved this book. A lot of retellings of classic fairy tales often succeed in replicating the original story, but don't add a layer of creativity. Honestly, I think the "re" in the title of many of them is the key. It's a "re"telling. It's just another telling of the story, not a different version of it. Well, thi More...
By Cameron Dokey
Overall star rating: 4.5/5 stars
Rating: PG
Plot originality: 5/5 stars
I loved this book. A lot of retellings of classic fairy tales often succeed in replicating the original story, but don't add a layer of creativity. Honestly, I think the "re" in the title of many of them is the key. It's a "re"telling. It's just another telling of the story, not a different version of it. Well, thi More...
May 13, 2011
Tricia
rated it:
Such a good story, and not the "Rapunzel" I knew, yet a beautiful story in so many ways.
I won't talk about the actual story, but I will share from the Author's Note, and yes this probably ia a spoiler, so read at your own risk. For me it only adds to the beauty of this retelling of "Rapunzel".
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"Several members of my family suffer from alopecia areata, an autoimmune skin disease which can result in the loss of hair on the scalp and elsewher More...
I won't talk about the actual story, but I will share from the Author's Note, and yes this probably ia a spoiler, so read at your own risk. For me it only adds to the beauty of this retelling of "Rapunzel".
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"Several members of my family suffer from alopecia areata, an autoimmune skin disease which can result in the loss of hair on the scalp and elsewher More...
Aug 03, 2010
Sandra
rated it: 
I found this story to be engaging even though it would not be the type of story i would pick up on my own. I liked that Dokey gave a twist to the "classic" tale of Repunzel. I liked the character of the original Repunzel, she was a spunky girl. Her relationship with Harry reminds me of my relationship with my husband because we are both very sarcastic and very proud people. I liked the interactions between Rue and Repunzel, they bickered as if they were truly sisters. However, I d
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Aug 02, 2010
God
rated it: 
I liked the idea of this book, but I didn't really like the book itself. Mostly, my problem came from the writing style which was overly complicated to no end. It basically felt to me that the author took a story of no more than 50 pages and whipped it up into a longer tale by making the sentences more convoluted and long winded than necessary. AS for the story itself, I liked the original premise, but I felt it wasn't developed correctly...the first half and the second half felt like entirely d
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Aug 02, 2010
Katie
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I really enjoyed this retelling of Rapunzel. Last semester I took the course the Art of the Children's Book and wrote a paper comparing three different versions of the classic tale of Rapunzel, therefore, I was very interested in reading this. While the three versions stories and illustrations all varied slightly, overall, they were very similar. Golden, on the other hand, had a great twist. I loved the fact that in this rendering, Rapunzel is completely bald. Dokey takes away the most well know
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Aug 02, 2010
Kristyn
rated it:
Golden is a retelling of the story of Rapunzel but with a few twists and turns along the way. For one thing, Rapunzel is born bald and she is not trapped in a tower but someone else is. Rue, the sorceress' daughter, is trapped in a tower and she is the owner of long roped locks of golden hair. Rue does need Rapunzel's help however to be freed from the tower that imprisons her.
I feel that this story was well told and is an interesting interpretation. Young adult readers will like it becaus More...
I feel that this story was well told and is an interesting interpretation. Young adult readers will like it becaus More...
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Jul 25, 2010
Barky
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Oct 22, 2009
NSAndrew
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[close:] In older versions of the classic tale Rapunzel, it always seemed improbable that a grown man could scale a tower using only his beloved's hair. Not so in Paul O. Zelinsky's Caldecott Medal-winning version of Rapunzel. Here, Rapunzel's reddish-blonde mane is thick with waves and braids, and cascades like a waterfall down the walls of her isolation tower. In Zelinsky's able hands it's easy to believe that a prince would harbor no hesitations about scrambling up our fair heroine's hair.
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May 04, 2009
Kathryn
rated it:
I would really give this 2 1/2 stars if I could. I was really enjoying the first half. I liked the depth that the Rapunzel story had been given and loved the character of Rapunzel. However, once it got the second half with the enchanted tower and the witch's daughter, Rue, it started to fall apart for me.
****SPOILER ALERT******
Rue was supposedly locked in the tower until someone, besides her mother, came along that truly loved her. The witch has always thought Rapunzel would be the More...
****SPOILER ALERT******
Rue was supposedly locked in the tower until someone, besides her mother, came along that truly loved her. The witch has always thought Rapunzel would be the More...
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Feb 02, 2010
Sally
rated it:
This was better than the other "Once Upon a Time" books I've read thus far. It still gave the heroine a lot of guts and gumption that seemed out of place int he landscape wherein the story is set, but the author did a suitable job of explaining why that would be, through the character's tale.
I especially liked two new twists to this popular fairy tale. (1) Rapunzel is bald. The author explains the reasoning behind this at the very end - so read those last few pages! I like More...
I especially liked two new twists to this popular fairy tale. (1) Rapunzel is bald. The author explains the reasoning behind this at the very end - so read those last few pages! I like More...
Mar 25, 2008
Marianne
rated it:
I picked this up as a quick read at the library thinking that it'd be one of those books you read and toss and ended up actually REALLY liking it! The plot line moves along at a great steady pace. The characters are refreshingly original and I love the twist on the story! I almost wish there was a sequel to it so we could see what happens to everyone after the end of the story! Unfortunately my library doesn't have any other books by this author or I'd have picked up another!
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Sep 08, 2011
Janus Vielle
rated it:
I can point out a lot of good things about this book. For one, it definitely took after the original tale of Rapunzel but giving it a rather surprising twist. When we hear “Rapunzel” we immediately think EXTREMELY LONG BLONDE HAIR. But with Dokey’s Golden, we find our heroine BALD. Yup, you read it right; Rapunzel is B-A-L-D. I absolutely loved the idea. It was so fresh and the story of how she ended up with the sorceress was cunning.
Another thing I was fond of was Rapunzel herself. More...
Another thing I was fond of was Rapunzel herself. More...
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Aug 01, 2010
Jackie
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Aug 11, 2011
I enjoyed this YA story. The "witch" was here a kind sorceress, reminding me of George Macdonald's wise woman. I wondered how the author was going to turn a bald girl into Rapunzel, but then came the revelation that there were two girls!
I felt like a paragraph or two were missing where Rapunzel realizes she must go inside the tower to help free Rue. She went from being surprised to realizing that she had to find the key to knowing she had to go inside alone very quickly; I thought More...
I felt like a paragraph or two were missing where Rapunzel realizes she must go inside the tower to help free Rue. She went from being surprised to realizing that she had to find the key to knowing she had to go inside alone very quickly; I thought More...
May 20, 2009
Fashiongirlgoldberg
rated it:
Well, I would probably rate this two and a half stars. I was a little disappointed with the ending, especially since I found the beginning fairly enthralling. I was annoyed through out the whole book by the fact that Rapunzel was, get this, completely and totally bald this completely miffed me. And it also bothered me how Rapunzel was just a stepping stone for the whole story. It's all "oh Rapunzel even though your the main character you have a completely pointless part in the whole entire
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Jul 14, 2010
Marie
rated it:
Golden is about a girl named Rapunzel who's mother was obsessed with Rapunzel (the herb) while she was pregnant with her. They lived next door to a sorceress who grew the herb and as selfish as her mother was, she demanded that her father bring her more and more Rapunzel. So he did what he thought was all he could do, he stole from the sorceress. Which is obviously, a horrible idea. He eventually was caught and Rapunzel's mother made a deal with the sorceress, which led Rapunzel to be raised by
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Dec 31, 2011
Tamra
rated it:
"That is what love is, I thought. A possibility that becomes a choice. A choice you keep making, over and over. Day after day. Year after year. Time after time."
Cameron Dokey has a way of simplifying and breaking down complicated ideas into something believable, beautiful and mind-easing. I'm amazed at how she continues to come up with twists on fairy tales of which I had never dreamed. This re-telling of the Rapunzel story is fascinating in its vast differences from the o More...
Cameron Dokey has a way of simplifying and breaking down complicated ideas into something believable, beautiful and mind-easing. I'm amazed at how she continues to come up with twists on fairy tales of which I had never dreamed. This re-telling of the Rapunzel story is fascinating in its vast differences from the o More...
Jun 14, 2010
Whitney
rated it:
Before Rapunzel is born her beautiful mother makes a deal with a sorceress: she must love the child as she appears. When Rapunzel is born completely bald with no hope of ever growing hair, her mother sends her away with the sorceress. After sixteen years with the sorceress she reveals that she has another daughter, Rue, and she asks Rapunzel for her help to set her free from a wizards curse. Dokey puts an interesting twist on this classic fairytale making this a whole new story. Those young adul
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Aug 01, 2010
Yosenex
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Jul 30, 2010
Amy
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This happily ever after remake of Rapunzel held my attention through the two young female characters, Rapunzel and Rue. This is a fairy tale where characters find their own identity and discover who they really are. Teens can connect to this idea of being uncertain with ones identity. Rapunzel is shunned by her real mother because she is different from others, Rapunzel is bald. She is taken in by a sorceress, Melisande, who loves and cares for her as if she was her own child. Melisande is ho
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Jul 24, 2010
The author teases out the story of how Rapunzel came to be shut up in the enchanted tower, waiting for true love. Since we know the "end" of the story through the fairy tale, readers are hooked, wondering how it will come to pass that Rapunzel, living with a soceress who so cleverly holds her dear, will be imprisoned. The crisis and resolution are enormously clever! And the messages are to be applauded as well: for example, the ability to see into antoher heart, make room for someone i
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Jan 29, 2011
Kiri
rated it:
This is an interesting retelling of the Rapunzel story. I'd give it 4 stars for creativity and 3 stars for execution; the writing is good but not the kind that takes my breath away. Along the way, the story also gets in some interesting and thought-provoking comments about the nature of love (and the challenges and obstacles associated with it). We know this is a fairytale story so there's going to be romance involved -- but love here manifests in many different aspects as well, including the
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Aug 02, 2010
Indira
rated it:
A fairy tale is not my cup of tea. This is the 9th part of the series called “Once upon a time”. Rapunzel was born bald and rejected by her biological mother. The naming of Rapunzel is self explanatory. During pregnancy, her mother ate an herb from her neighbor Melisande’s garden which probably made her being born as bald. Melisande most likely knew the side effect of that herb.
Rapunzel was raised by Melisande and a nice childhood was given to her. She developed an ability to read people’ More...
Rapunzel was raised by Melisande and a nice childhood was given to her. She developed an ability to read people’ More...
Mar 21, 2010
Aimee
rated it:
This is another book that I would give another half star if I could. I really enjoy a new take on an old tale. Cameron Dokey has a way with words that really connects with me. My favorite lines from this book:
"This is what love is, I thought. A possiblity becomes a choice. A choice you keep making, over and over. Day after day. Year after year. Time after time."
"There is no such thing as an act without consequence. No act stands alone. It is alway More...
"This is what love is, I thought. A possiblity becomes a choice. A choice you keep making, over and over. Day after day. Year after year. Time after time."
"There is no such thing as an act without consequence. No act stands alone. It is alway More...
Jul 28, 2010
Christian
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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