Saturday, January 30, 2010

Rumplestiltskin's Daughter

This is hands down the best fractured fairy tale picture book I've ever read. It also unquestionably has the best representation of a fairy tale female that I've ever seen. After randomly picking it up in the library, I wanted to write the author a fan letter based entirely on this book alone.

In this version of Rumplestilskin the miller's daughter falls in love with Rumplestiltskin and they both escape the greedy king together. But, years later, their daughter is kidnapped by the same miserly king. Instead of calling her father for help, Rumplestiltskin's clever daughter hatches a plan to save, not only herself, but the whole kingdom's economy.

I was delighted to see they actually made a play out of this book. Here's a link to the website for that. Unfortunately it's only in Richmond Virginia, so I can't see it. I also think it might already be over. But it's cool just to know they did one. This book certainly deserves it. Heck, I'd love to see a movie based on this book if they did it right.

Book Club

This is the spoilers section.

What, you say? A spoilers section for a picture book? That's right. This one was so cleverly written I'd rather you read it before you read this part.

Okay, are you done? C'mon, it's a picture book, it doesn't take that long. Go to the kids section of your library (only cowards feel embarrassed there) and pick it up. If they don't have it, demand that they get it!

Okay, done with that? Here it is.

I LOVE that Rumplestiltskin's Daughter got to be prime minister. I was inwardly cringing the whole time, worried she would marry that icky king. Because, no matter how reformed he is, it's still creepy. Plus it would have only reinforced the message that women have to get married to live fulfilled lives. Now, I do admittedly like romance. But this story had that with the miller's daughter and Rumplestiltskin. That was so cute, and Rumplestilskin was a cutie. So it this story has it all!

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