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1. Bibliographic Information
Napoli, D. J. and Tchen, R. (1999). Spinners. New York: Puffin Books
197 pages
ISBN: 0-14-131110-X
2. Plot Summary
A young tailor has fallen in love with a spinner’s daughter, she is also pregnant with his child. Intending to marry her, he goes to the spinner in order to ask for her hand in marriage. However, the spinner refuses due to the tailor’s poor prospects. Desperate, the tailor promises that he can weave the spinner’s daughter a dress of gold from straw. The tailor steals a spindle from an old woman in the forest; however, once he begins to use it he cannot stop. The tailor becomes consumed with making the dress. Once the spinner’s daughter sees the extent to which this tailor’s obsession has become, she refuses to marry him and instead marries the wealthy miller to ensure her security. Enraged, the tailor retreats to the forest where he uses the spindle to make yarn.
Years pass, and the daughter is now a young woman. Her mother had died in childbirth, while her assumed father is now wasting away his money and social standing on beer. In order to keep themselves afloat, the young daughter uses her mothers’ spindle to earn money. Her father brags to the king that his daughter can weave gold. The king takes on the miller’s bet, and promises to give his hand in marriage if the daughter succeeds. In a reversal of situations, the young daughter is forced to spin gold from a room full of straw. Desperate, the young daughter does not know what to do. Suddenly a crippled, ugly man enters the castle and helps her using his own spindle. His only condition is that he will have the maiden’s first born when she is queen. The daughter accepts without hesitation, seeing that she has no love for the king and no hope of success. However, when she does succeed with the help of this strange man, she soon finds herself married to the king. It is not long before she is with child and the man returns. She can save the one thing she loves if only she finds out the name of the weird man.
3. Critical Evaluation
Donna Jo Napoli and Richard Tchen’s Spinners, a rewrite of the fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin, just did not work for me. Perhaps it is due to the fact that the character of Rumpelstiltskin never quite makes sense. While his adult bitterness can be easily attributed to his unhappy experiences with the spinner and his daughter, his resentment towards his daughter seem only due to his own selfishness. Although this may be the authors’ attempts to show that he was incapable of loving anyone, the reader never connects with the character. There was no redeeming value which made the reader want to understand his motives. Nevertheless, there are some interesting aspects to the novel. The authors do an excellent job with imagery and symbolism, especially in terms of Rumpelstiltskin. Initially the authors create a man whose obsession with the Spinner’s daughter overrides his ability to think rationally. Then his outward crippled appearance begins to reflect his twisted soul. Additionally, it is interesting to look at how the authors display love in this novel. It could be said that Rumpelstiltskin never truly loved the spinner’s daughter because he was more obsessed with proving his love through possessions. Furthermore, the daughter never loves anyone except her child. Thus, while the book is not bad, I felt that for a rewrite the authors really did not execute the characters’ motivations well.
4. Reader’s Annotation
Just how did Rumpelstiltskin weave straw into gold?
5. Information about the authors
Donna Jo Napoli writes for children through young adult readers. Most of her young adult books are rewrites of fairy tales including Beauty, Bound, North, and Breath.
Richard Tchen was born in 1973 in California. He is a mathematician, and has also published in the area of environmental studies.
6. Genre
Fantasy: Fairy Tale
7. Curriculum Ties
I don’t really see this being used in a high school English class, unless they were doing a lesson on fairy tales. I only remember learning about fairy tales in a college Children’s writing class, though.
8. Booktalking Ideas
-Does Rumpelstiltskin’s background justify his actions against his daughter?
-How do the authors use the relationships of the Rumpelstiltskin and the Spinner’s daughter, the Spinner’s daughter and the Miller and the daughter and the King to talk about love?
9. Reading Level/Interest Age
I would assume that most teens who would read this book would be girls aged 15 and 16.
10. Challenge Issues
There are references to Rumpelstiltskin and the Spinner’s Daughter sleeping together, but otherwise I would not think that there were any other issues with this book. If someone did find this book objectionable, I would refer them to the ALA’s website for guidelines and challenge forms found at:
http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/index.cfm
Napoli, D. J. and Tchen, R. (1999). Spinners. New York: Puffin Books
197 pages
ISBN: 0-14-131110-X
2. Plot Summary
A young tailor has fallen in love with a spinner’s daughter, she is also pregnant with his child. Intending to marry her, he goes to the spinner in order to ask for her hand in marriage. However, the spinner refuses due to the tailor’s poor prospects. Desperate, the tailor promises that he can weave the spinner’s daughter a dress of gold from straw. The tailor steals a spindle from an old woman in the forest; however, once he begins to use it he cannot stop. The tailor becomes consumed with making the dress. Once the spinner’s daughter sees the extent to which this tailor’s obsession has become, she refuses to marry him and instead marries the wealthy miller to ensure her security. Enraged, the tailor retreats to the forest where he uses the spindle to make yarn.
Years pass, and the daughter is now a young woman. Her mother had died in childbirth, while her assumed father is now wasting away his money and social standing on beer. In order to keep themselves afloat, the young daughter uses her mothers’ spindle to earn money. Her father brags to the king that his daughter can weave gold. The king takes on the miller’s bet, and promises to give his hand in marriage if the daughter succeeds. In a reversal of situations, the young daughter is forced to spin gold from a room full of straw. Desperate, the young daughter does not know what to do. Suddenly a crippled, ugly man enters the castle and helps her using his own spindle. His only condition is that he will have the maiden’s first born when she is queen. The daughter accepts without hesitation, seeing that she has no love for the king and no hope of success. However, when she does succeed with the help of this strange man, she soon finds herself married to the king. It is not long before she is with child and the man returns. She can save the one thing she loves if only she finds out the name of the weird man.
3. Critical Evaluation
Donna Jo Napoli and Richard Tchen’s Spinners, a rewrite of the fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin, just did not work for me. Perhaps it is due to the fact that the character of Rumpelstiltskin never quite makes sense. While his adult bitterness can be easily attributed to his unhappy experiences with the spinner and his daughter, his resentment towards his daughter seem only due to his own selfishness. Although this may be the authors’ attempts to show that he was incapable of loving anyone, the reader never connects with the character. There was no redeeming value which made the reader want to understand his motives. Nevertheless, there are some interesting aspects to the novel. The authors do an excellent job with imagery and symbolism, especially in terms of Rumpelstiltskin. Initially the authors create a man whose obsession with the Spinner’s daughter overrides his ability to think rationally. Then his outward crippled appearance begins to reflect his twisted soul. Additionally, it is interesting to look at how the authors display love in this novel. It could be said that Rumpelstiltskin never truly loved the spinner’s daughter because he was more obsessed with proving his love through possessions. Furthermore, the daughter never loves anyone except her child. Thus, while the book is not bad, I felt that for a rewrite the authors really did not execute the characters’ motivations well.
4. Reader’s Annotation
Just how did Rumpelstiltskin weave straw into gold?
5. Information about the authors
Donna Jo Napoli writes for children through young adult readers. Most of her young adult books are rewrites of fairy tales including Beauty, Bound, North, and Breath.
Richard Tchen was born in 1973 in California. He is a mathematician, and has also published in the area of environmental studies.
6. Genre
Fantasy: Fairy Tale
7. Curriculum Ties
I don’t really see this being used in a high school English class, unless they were doing a lesson on fairy tales. I only remember learning about fairy tales in a college Children’s writing class, though.
8. Booktalking Ideas
-Does Rumpelstiltskin’s background justify his actions against his daughter?
-How do the authors use the relationships of the Rumpelstiltskin and the Spinner’s daughter, the Spinner’s daughter and the Miller and the daughter and the King to talk about love?
9. Reading Level/Interest Age
I would assume that most teens who would read this book would be girls aged 15 and 16.
10. Challenge Issues
There are references to Rumpelstiltskin and the Spinner’s Daughter sleeping together, but otherwise I would not think that there were any other issues with this book. If someone did find this book objectionable, I would refer them to the ALA’s website for guidelines and challenge forms found at:
http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/index.cfm
11. Why was it selected?
I wanted to include an example of a fairy tale rewrite.
12. Citations
Challenges to library materials. (2010). In American Library Association. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/index.cfm
I wanted to include an example of a fairy tale rewrite.
12. Citations
Challenges to library materials. (2010). In American Library Association. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/index.cfm
Napoli, D. J. (2010). Short biography: Donna Jo Napoli (biographies of coauthors follow). Retrieved from http://www.donnajonapoli.com/biography.html
Picture
Amazon.com. (2010). Spinners (Mass market paperback). Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Spinners-Donna-Jo-Napoli/dp/014131110X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273545813&sr=1-1
13. Awards
An ALA Best Book for Young Adults
An Edgar Allan Poe Award Finalist
Junior Library Guild
New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age
Carolyn W. Field Honor Book, Pennsylvania Library Association
South Carolina Book Award Master List
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