Rumpelstiltskin: The Graphic Novel (Graphic Spin) Paperback – Illustrated, September 1, 2008

One of my favorite literary genres is the "retold" fairy tale -- a work that takes an old tale and tells it with a fresh spin, placing it in a new setting or telling it from the point of view of another character, or just fleshing out the bare-bones story of the original. Some of my favorite books come from this genre -- Gail Carson Levine's "Ella Enchanted," Heather Tomlinson's "Toads and Diamonds," Eowyn Ivey's "The Snow Child," Edith Pattou's "East," and Robin McKinley's "Deerskin" all fall in this category. Sometimes these retellings fall short of the mark, such as Sarah Beth Durst's "Ice," but for the most part I've found a lot of winners in this genre.This graphic novel adaptation of "Rumpelstiltskin" tries to take the original story and give it a fresh spin... but in trying to revitalize the old tale, it ends up creating a number of plot holes.Most people are familiar with the tale of "Rumpelstiltskin" -- a man lies about his daughter's ability to spin straw into gold, a strange little man does the task for her, and said man requests the girl's firstborn child in return unless she can guess his name. But this story tries to flesh out the original tale, and cast some of its characters in a more sympathetic light. In this retelling, a miller lies about his daughter's ability in desperation, knowing he owes a debt to the king and hoping his untruth will buy him some time to escape execution. The king is not gold-greedy, but simply so besotted with the miller's daughter that he keeps assigning her gold-spinning tasks in order to keep her around and, perhaps, woo her. And the miller's daughter is not content to simply let messengers perform the task of seeking the little man's name for her, but sets out to discover it herself. The titular imp is still the villain -- and his vileness is ramped up to eleven in this rendition -- but then, we wouldn't have much of a story otherwise.The art style, while serviceable and well-detailed, is a bit off-putting. The characters all have huge eyes and oddly shaped heads, making them look like animate dolls. Most of the art looks somehow CGI-ed, more like screengrabs from a 3D animated cartoon than a graphic novel. And at times the artist tries to cram too much into one page, giving the art a cluttered look.The story is an improvement over the original tale. It explains just why the miller would tell such a potentially costly lie about his daughter, and makes many of the characters more sympathetic. The miller's daughter is far more resourceful in this retelling, and the king is a much more sympathetic character in this tale, making his marriage to the heroine seem less forced and more natural. Rumpelstiltskin himself is a creepy character, and while his intentions for taking the heroine's child are never explained (much like in the original story), one still can't help but get the chills whenever he's around.My main problem with the story is that in trying to close up a number of plot holes, it opens up more. While the miller's reason for lying about his daughter's ability makes sense, it still makes him look willing to sacrifice his daughter to save his own hide. We still have a Disney-esque three-day romance between the miller's daughter and the king, and as for how the ending is resolved... it comes out of nowhere, a sort of deus ex machina that wasn't foreshadowed at all and makes the whole story suddenly seem silly. The original ending to the story was an improvement over this one.A good read for kids, but if you're a fan of "retold" fairy tales that expand and improve on the originals, this may not be for you. There are better retellings of Rumpelstiltskin out there, ones not as plot-hole-ish and dragged down by mediocre art.

This version of Rumpelstiltskin is a perfect low level but high interest book. The story is the traditional telling of the classic with clear, bright illustrations. At the end of the graphic novel, the author includes a glossary, a short history of the story, discussion questions, writing prompts, and a website for further exploration.