Rapunzella, Or, Don’t Touch My Hair

Verse and prose in alternating second- and third-person POVs coalesce into an ensorcelling portal fantasy in which a 15-year-old Black Caribbean British girl travels between contemporary life in Britain and a brewing conflict in the Jamaica-inspired fantasy world she visits in her sleep. The unnamed protagonist—called Mush by her mother—dreams of Persea, a realm in which a coven of Black witches opposes a tyrannical king who robs them of their magic by changing their hair texture (“And so, every Black woman at once ceased to know their natural hair”). Their only hope is Zella, a 16-year-old witch the king has imprisoned. In Mush’s waking life, she relaxes her hair, hoping to gain favor with her affluent classmates at her predominantly white all-girls school. Meanwhile, Zella and the witches of Persea plot to retake their power. But without Mush, they may not be enough. The mystical world of Persea and its lush natural environment juxtaposed against the austere, rapidly evolving metropolitan landscape is immersive. In both worlds, debut creator McLeod compassionately interrogates the relationship between Black women, their hair, and respectability politics, making for a fine tribute to chosen families, and to Black women in all their rich complexity. Ages 12–up. (June)

Update: The text of this review has been adjusted for clarity.