Series ✦ Penny’s Take
Petrosinella
Diane Stanley · 1997
76/100
👍 Worth It
Diane Stanley reaches back past Grimm to Basile's seventeenth-century Italian original and recovers a Rapunzel who rescues herself with wit and magical acorns — a meaningful restoration of female agency in folklore. The Renaissance-style illustrations are a genuine artistic accomplishment praised by both Kirkus and Publishers Weekly. A brief picture-book format keeps character depth limited, but the scholarly and creative ambition here is real.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
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Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
Faith & family safety79
Substance / usefulness68
Craft & writing78
Originality83
Evidence & accuracy86
Hype vs delivers79
Age-fit84
👁 Human-eye gut-check77
Penny’s verdict76
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