Rumpelstiltskin

Picture Book: Fairytale
Title: Rumpelstiltskin
Author/Illustrator: Paul Zelinsky
Age Level: 4+
Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary
A poor miller tells the king that his beautiful daughter knows the art of spinning straw into gold so the king orders the millers daughter into the castle right away to make gold or else she was to die.  The girl did not know how to spin straw into gold until a little man comes in who will spin the straw into gold in return of the girls necklace. The king became greedier so asked for the girl to spin more straw into gold and the girl gave the man her ring, and then promised that if the king made her his wife that their first child would be the little mans.  When the queen gave birth, the little man appeared and wanted to child but finally agreed that if the queen knew his name after three days, she could keep the child.  When he came back, she guessed and guessed his name until one night she sent a servant who overheard the little man say his name. The next day the queen says that the mans name is Rumpelstiltskin and she gets to keep her baby.

Opinion
This is one book that I do not remember reading as a child but the story is one that allowed me to daze off into a fantasy world while I was reading.  I thought that the story was beautifully illustrated with the representational style and was very detailed which allowed you to take yourself back into the time of kings and queens in the castle.  It was a more sophisticated version of the book and I think that it plays nicely with the kind of time period that the book is trying to represent.  I think that the story of Rumpelstiltskin provides a lot of topics to be discussed with children.  There is the topic of greed, which is shown by the king, and also by Rumpelstiltskin himself.  Also, lying to get what you want is something that can be seen within the story by the girl who has no real magic power of turing straw into gold but whose father lies and says she can because he wants her to marry the king.  These are important things that children need to see and understand so that they can make good decisions and I think that this book helps them see this.

I think that this book could be used quite well in a discussion or introduction of literary elements.  While reading this book, I think that children will be able to apply elements like time, place, character, mood, etc. to build on their thoughts about the book and enhance their understanding of the greater story and meaning this book portrays.