This funny fractured fairy tale goes behind the scenes of Rumpelstiltskin. New York Times Bestselling author Liesl Shurtliff "spins words into gold [Kirby Larson, Newbery Honor winner]."
In a magic kingdom where your name is your destiny, 12-year-old Rump is the butt of everyone's joke. But when he finds an old spinning wheel, his luck seems to change. Rump discovers he has a gift for spinning straw into gold. His best friend, Red Riding Hood, warns him that magic is dangerous, and she’s right. With each thread he spins, he weaves himself deeper into a curse.
To break the spell, Rump must go on a perilous quest, fighting off pixies, trolls, poison apples, and a wickedly foolish queen. The odds are against him, but with courage and friendship—and a cheeky sense of humor—he just might triumph in the end.
A Texas Bluebonnet finalist and winner of the ILA award for middle grade fiction, Rump is perfect for fans of Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted or Adam Gidwitz's A Tale Dark and Grimm. And don't miss Liesl Shurtliff's other fairy tale retellings: Jack: The True Story of Jack and the Beanstalk and Red: The True Story of Red Riding Hood.
"A fresh riff on the Grimm Brothers' Rumpelstiltskin, told with wit from the impish point of view of the troublemaker himself." —People
"Lighthearted and inventive, Rump amusingly expands a classic tale." —Brandon Mull, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Fablehaven.
It's completely original, I have never read a book that takes the story of Rumplestilskin and gives you a fresh "True" story . It starts with Rump as a young boy who lives with his grandmother because both of his parents have passed. At a young age they work in the mines looking for gold to trade with the Miller for food rations. The Miller wasn’t a far man so it could take a lot of gold to get any good food. Nothing had a name only people because “in the Kingdom your name isn’t just what people call you. Your name is full of meaning and power. Your name is your destiny”.
So Rump wasn’t very happy with his name cause he felt it was half a name not a full name. Since his mom died before she can tell him the whole name he was known as Rump.
“My mother named me after a cow’s rear end”
He finds his mother’s spinning wheel and is drawn to start spinning straw into gold. This causes him a lot of problems besides trading for rations word gets out someone can spin straw to gold and chaos ensues.
Rump is in search of fixing the problems he had created and finding his full name. You get a behind the scenes look at his life and the journey he goes on to find his destiny.
The journey is fun and whimsical where he meets a family of trolls (that may or may not eat you), witches (of Wool), is beaten up by a bunch of pixies (never wake a pixie) As much as I had a hard time connecting with the characters by the end of it I was very happy for them and was very pleased how it had ended. Its really not what you think :)
The Story was easy to read and very funny, such a wonderful story. I loved all the rhymes in the book. They were so witty and so much fun (I kept stopping to read them to my kids who laughed and made me read them over and over again) :)
“Wash your hands, wipe your feet, give me a kiss, sit down and eat”
Rump learns a lot about himself and what a name and destiny really is. This is a great book for anyone who enjoys a Fairy tale re-telling. Regardless of my issues with the characters this is really a good book not to pass up. It is totally worth the read.
“Maybe destiny isn’t something that just happens. Maybe destiny is something you do”
