[BOOK REVIEW] Rumpelstiltskin by Paul Galdone

Title:  Rumpelstiltskin

Author:  Paul Galdone

Genre: Fairy Tale / Fantasy / Cult Classic

Year Published: 1985

Year Read:  2014

Publisher: Clarion Books

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 5+ (Threat of Child Kidnapping)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

There have been so many different versions of the legendary Brothers Grimm tale, “Rumpelstiltskin” that I was surprised to find another version of this tale, even though I already know the story by now!  But, Paul Galdone’s version of the classic Brothers Grimm tale is definitely something worth checking out!

The story begins with a poor miller telling the king of the land that his beautiful daughter can spin straw into gold. The king then decides to take in the miller’s daughter to his castle and ordered her to spin straw into gold for him or else, she will die.  The miller’s daughter, who had no clue how to spin straw into gold, started crying when suddenly a small man came in and told the miller’s daughter that he will help her spin straw into gold as long as she gives him something. So, afterwards, once the miller’s daughter gave everything to the little man when the king made her spin even more straw into gold, she ended up promising the little old man her first born child.  After the little old man finished spinning the straw into gold, the king decided to marry the miller’s daughter and she ended up giving birth to a baby girl.  But suddenly, the little old man popped up and demanded the queen to give her baby to him.  But, the queen refused, so the little old man decided to give the queen three days to guess what his name is so that she could keep her child.

I have read many versions of “Rumpelstiltskin” and even though I already know the main gist of the story by this point, Paul Galdone’s version of the classic Brothers Grimm tale continues to renew my interest in this fairy tale!  As usual, I have always enjoyed the classic fairy tale story “Rumpelstiltskin” and it was amazing reading another version of the classic Brothers Grimm and still enjoying this story for its intense story line and magical elements.  Now, because everyone already knows the story of “Rumpelstiltskin,” I would like to talk more about what I loved about Paul Galdone’s artwork for this story.  I loved Paul Galdone’s artwork in this book as the characters look realistic and I also loved the scratchy feel of the artwork as it fits perfectly with the intense nature of this story.  I also loved the image of Rumpelstiltskin himself as he is shown to be a short, old looking man who wears medieval clothing such as a blue blouse with yellow and red striped pants and a brown cape and it makes him fit the role of the medieval times extremely well.  I also loved the image of the miller’s daughter herself as she is truly beautiful with her long wavy blond hair and blue eyes, although I did have a problem with the miller’s daughter having dark circles under her eyes since it made her look a bit unhealthy from where I stand.

The only problem that I had with this book (and with the story in general) is that it deals with the possibility of a child being taken away from their parents because of a promise they made years ago.  This is often an issue that would worry most parents since it would involve their children possibly being taken away from them without warning sometimes and parents might want to tread with caution when reading this book to their children.

Overall, Paul Galdone’s version of “Rumpelstiltskin” is definitely one book to check out if you are a huge fan of the classic fairy tale and if you are a fan of Paul Galdone’s works in general.  I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since the theme of child kidnapping might upset some smaller children.