By: Gary D. Schmidt Publisher: Clarion Books Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Clarion Books Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 176 Publication Date: April 23, 2001 Reading Level: Young Adult
Product Description: What fills a hand fuller than a skein of gold? By order of the king, two boys, Tousle and Innes, must find the answer to this puzzling riddle within seven days or be killed. A former nursemaid to the queen's child tells the boys that the banished queen may have the answer they seek. Danger presents itself at every turn, for the boys are pursued by the Great Barons, who are secretly plotting against the king. Another pursuer, the greedy King's Grip, reveals a strange story of a little man who once spun straw into gold of incredible beauty for the queen but then disappeared with her firstborn son. Tousle realizes that the man he calls Da is the strange little man and, even more amazing, that he himself may be the lost prince. Or could it be Innes, who although cruelly blinded can hear the music of the dawn? This skillful blend of fantasy and adventure reveals what might have happened before the queen makes her third and last guess and the story of Rumpelstiltskin—as we know it—ends.
spinning two tales into one Do you know "what fills a hand fuller than a skein of gold?" Neither did Tousle, but he had exactly seven days to learn the answer to this riddle-and failure was not an option. This doesn't sound much like the story of Rumpelstiltskin you heard in your younger years, but Gary Schmidt delved deeper into the tale, pursuing questions that are always unanswered at the conclusion of fairy tales, notably the question of `why?'. His readers follow him on a remarkable tale of what might have happened between the Queen's second and third guesses of the little man's name. Straw into Gold follows the journey of two 11-year-old boys, Innes and Tousle, who are a mission to solve the riddle. Along the way they encounter friend and foe, and help from a strange little man with spindly fingers, eyes like a frog's, and a curious gait, known only as Tousle's Da until the end of the story. Through it all, we travel with two ordinary boys with extraordinary spirit, and follow the unique twists and turns Schmidt uses to weave the fairy tale and his story together into one. We follow the journeys of Innes and Tousle as they seek their answer, and we see them start to discover who each other is but also who they as individuals. Tousle has been sheltered all his life, and now he is learning what sort of choices he has to make in the real world. He starts seeking to find where he belongs and exactly what his relationship to the Queen really is. On their travels, the boys meet friends who help them, even though by doing so they endanger themselves. One particularly poignant scene has the boys seeking shelter at a mill Tousle had passed on his way into town the day before. Out of kindness he had stopped to help an old woman with her buckets of water, and now his kindness is repaid to Innes and him. He tells his companions this they, but the nurse informs him that "nothing is ever quite by chance." This continues to hold true throughout the story as the boys realize that everything has a purpose. Schmidt uses a beautiful metaphor in the story, the idea of life as a design. As Tousle is seeking the answer to the riddle, he is also seeking his place in the design. He thinks of life as a design, but he cannot figure his out. Everyone else knows what their gift is, where they fit in life, but Tousle is confused-he does not know what his design looks like or how he is supposed to fit in it. Through the novel, he learns that it comes one curl at a time. When one curl is complete the next one begins-he doesn't know where or how, but it will come. Through Tousle's journey we too find that our lives are designs in progress, but sometimes it curls around and we do not see what's ahead for us. These scenes gently imply that there is One who is in control, but it is left lingering in the air instead of being brought down and discussed in the story. Schmidt says this idea came to him while he was sitting and wondering by his wood stove. He answers questions, but he also provokes them. We have questions answered. We now know why, but now we have more-not only about this story, but about others as well. Readers of this story will never read a fairy tale the same way again: they will sit and wonder about what wasn't said.
If Ned Flanders rewrote Rumplestiltskin (-diddley)... Sorry, but this story isn't just boring, drawn-out and poorly written, it's also Christian propoganda loosely disguised as a fairytale. Don't get me wrong, I'm NOT anti-Christian, I'd just rather have some advance warning if someone is going to try to shove religion down my throat in the guise of a kids' book!!! There are frequent Christian religious messages in this, including one about how in life nothing happens by chance, only by 'design'. ('Intelligent Design', perhaps?) Even Rumplestiltskin's magic is explained away as a gift from God, I assume so that it will appeal more to the 'anti-Harry Potter lobby' with their 'magic is satanic' stance. Since reading this, I've found out that the writer of this book has also published some Bible stories and a story about a saint...this book isn't much different from those works in that it reads more like a religious parable than a fairy tale. Sorry, but I didn't want to buy a deeply religious book, I wanted a magical fairytale, and I resent the fact that I wasn't prewarned about exactly what I was buying. Christianity may have some good lessons to teach, but this wasn't the appropriate time or place to preach them.
But that isn't even my main qualm about this book...my biggest problem is that it's so BORING, and very badly written. Really, this should have been about fifty or more pages shorter; it's been overstuffed with pointless filler and repetition and excrutiating detail...I mean, this author goes on and on about the weather, and the oatmeal they had for breakfast EVERY DAY, and the pine trees, and so on, over and over and over, ad nauseum. And if he talked about 'milk that was still warm from the cow' one more time I was going to scream! He loved that expression so much, he did it to death. Some people find comfort in excessive repetition; I'm not one of them. I believe that only bad writers, ones who lack imagination or who are stuck in a rut, write like that. There were other problems with the book, too: the boys in the story are only about 11 years old, but they seem much older; one of the boys is blind, and yet almost no mention is ever made of this disability's effects on his life...he is able to ride a horse and hike through snow and skate and climb stairs and dance and find his way, all apparently without any help. And the writing style in this book is flowery and 'romantic', so much so that it was almost hard to believe that it was written by a man...or so I thought until I got to all the unnecessarily gory bits of the story: there's lots of blood and guts and brutality. But the worst fault with this book, the one that I cannot forgive, is that Rumplestiltskin is a chain smoker...he always seems to be smoking a pipe. The book even describes his 'sweet tobacco smell' which his adopted son loves. Huh? Since when did it become okay to glamourise smoking tobacco in a kids' book? Tobacco does not smell sweet, it smells gross and makes a lot of people sick! The writer of this book seems keen to spread the message of Christianity and love and giving, and yet here he is promoting the deadly habit of smoking to children! It reeks of hypocrisy and a questionable conscience.
While I was reading this book, I counted down the pages like a prisoner counting down the days to his release from jail...I couldn't wait for it to be over. It was a waste of a day, reading this. I would not recommend it to anyone. If you want a GOOD version of the Rumplestiltskin tale, get hold of Vivian Vande Velde's 'The Rumplestiltskin Problem'. It's well written and not at all preachy. Or for the younger readers (and the young at heart) try 'Rumplestiltskin's Daughter' by Diane Stanley, which is a wonderful, fun read.
Straw into gold Well, I really do not know why the publishers pubished this. This book was really bad if i could i would give it 0 stars. The writer was creative but he didn't focus on the story. He didn't put the charaters names untill half way though the book. The plot was boring, the end didn't finish the story. There was just no point to the story. The author does do a good job of writing but that doesn't count for anything unless the story is good. If you want a good book stay away from this one!
Rumpelstiltskin Revisited In this 2001 retelling of the fairytale Rumpelstiltskin by Gary Schmidt, two orphan boys named Tousle and Innes must find the answer to the king's riddle - What fills a hand fuller than a skein of gold? - within seven days or they and a group of "rebel" prisoners face execution.
The book begins with the traditional story of the miller's claim that his daughter can spin straw into gold, her weeping which brings the little man who does just that, and the little man carrying off her first-born son as payment. In this version, however, he does this before the queen, so overcome with grief that she cannot speak, can make her final guess concerning his name.
The narrative then moves ahead twelve years to Tousle and Innes and the riddle given to them by the king and his council of Great Lords. The boys decide to visit the queen, whom the king keeps sequestered in a convent. They soon find, however, that there are a number of people concerned with their safety - or the lack there of, as the case may be - and must find ways of avoiding all kinds of dangers, mostly soldiers with large, scary weapons but also those who easily succumb to the temptation of money in return for information on the whereabouts of two young boys.
As Tousle and Innes near the convent, rumors of a young prince who was carried off as a baby by a little man reach them. The reader, who has perhaps begun to wonder how this story-thread ties into the original tale of Rumpelstiltskin, begins to surmise that one of the boys is possibly the prince himself. After all, both are orphans; Tousle was raised by a little man named Da; it is unclear how or why Innes has been blinded by what appears to be a sword slash to his eyes; and at least one of the people with whom they seek refuge on their way to the queen mutters about strange likenesses to the king, although it is not obvious who is being described.
Needless to say, as this is a fairytale, all turns out well in the end, although this specific version of the familiar tale keeps the reader guessing until the very last page. Retellings of fairytales are always intriguing because of what they reveal about a culture and its values but they are perhaps most interesting in this day and age of feminist critiques of gender roles in the original stories. This particular retelling does not, perhaps, make the strongest break from traditional gender roles as is possible. It might appear that the real reasons Tousle and Innes are on this "quest" is to rescue other female characters - Tousle: the queen from the grief which is clearly evident in her features when he catches a glimpse of her at the beginning of the story; and Innes: the two girls who have been so kind to him and are a part of the "rebels" who face death if the boys do not return with the answer to the king's riddle. The queen is, however, despite being controlled by the men in her life, a fairly strong character and when given an opportunity to significantly change her life, does not hesitate to take it despite the risks involved.
Minor points of contention with the book are: one, pronunciation of either of the main character's names is uncertain, a rather annoying feature were one to read this story aloud, and two, it is a bit confusing why, if the only life that Tousle remembers is that which he has had with Da, he knows to refer to himself in the first person, since the only voice Da ever uses is the third.
More information about the kingdom in which the story is set might also have been nice. One infers that the king is controlled by the members of his council, the Great Lords, but why? Why is the miller's house - the father of the queen - so ramshackle? What exactly has transpired between the queen and the king? One might argue that not having this information adds mystery to the story but there are times when not being in possession of such details may keep the reader from fully understanding the dynamics of the story and relationships between characters.
That being said, reading this book is an incredibly enjoyable process. The story is suspenseful and unpredictable, pulling one in so that, for all intents and purposes, one is within the story with Tousle and Innes. In fact, one may so enjoy spending time with these characters that one will find it necessary to delay reading the final chapter in order to prolong one's time within this story world.
This book should appeal to almost any age, although it addresses issues that are perhaps most relevant to the age for which it is intended: junior high. It explores relationships between human beings, both good and bad. It addresses the idea of "bad" occurrences later revealed to be the best and most necessary ones at the time. And perhaps most applicable of all, it speaks of feelings of not belonging anywhere in particular, of the envy of not knowing one's own gift (or gifts) when others know theirs, and the aloneness and insecurity which nearly everyone has known, or will know, at one time in their lives or another.
In all, this is a very good book, well-written and captivating, addressing a number of important issues pertinent to the age-group for which it is intended.
The Prices We Pay An intriguing re-mix of the Rumpelstiltskin story, the story of what might have happened had the Queen not guessed R.'s name correctly...and it also solves the mystery of why R. would have wanted that baby, anyway...and no, it's nothing to do with cannibalism or pederasty, thank you very much.
It's set in a fantasy-Europe milieu with somewhat-complex politics and competing power factions---the king isn't a bad guy, just weak when faced of the leader of the twelve Great Lords, who detests the beautiful peasant woman whom the king has married and elevated to royalty. The plot is filled with twists and relevations, a driving sense of urgency, a good deal of humor, and some eerily-casual magical encounters. The story is engagingly told in the first person by Tousle, a young boy who's been raised by the small, gnomish gentlemen he's always called Da---but don't assume that you know how this story is going to turn out. Even the happiest ending can have a bittersweet edge.
There've been several Rumpelstiltskin-based books in the last few years---Jo Napoli's Spinners is very good, very sad, and Vivian Vande Velde's short story collection, The Rumpelstiltskin Problem, is revisionist retelling at its funniest and finest. Straw in Gold more than holds its own among them. Great fun reading for 8-to-12 year olds, and for adults who still love fairy tales.
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