Friday, February 8, 2013

Rumplestiltskin's Daughter By Diane Stanley




This week I read Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter By Diane Stanley. This book starts with a miller's daughter who's father likes to tell lies. He tells everyone that his daughter can spin straw into gold. Their king of the land hears of this and takes the miller's daughter into his own custody. He orders her to spin the straw provided into gold, or to be killed.. Of course she can't, and a short gentleman comes to her rescue. He provides her straw spun into gold in exchange for a small token, such as a necklace. He continues to do this three more times, and she decides to marry him. They escape out of the King's palace, and live together in a quiet area of the land. For years the King becomes  more and more angry with losing his gold spinner, and hears word of a miller's granddaughter bringing in gold in exchange for food. He captures her and gives her the same ultimatum. Because she won't have the same fate as her mother for unknown reasons, she devises up a plan. She helps not only herself, but the king and his starving land as well. I love this book because I personally love this fairytale. As an activity, I think it would be a great idea to think about being a King or Queen of their own land, and to come up with ideas of how they would run their land, and how they could help their people in need.

3 comments:

  1. I think this is a good book! It can also be a good way to talk to kids about greed and other things related to why the king is giving people the ultimatum. I think there are many areas where kids can discuss the themes of this book.

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  2. I agree with Melanie, I think that this is a great way to talk to kids about being greedy and to teach them to be careful of the deals they make with others. Your idea for the activity is great, but I might also add that the kids talk and perhaps share a time when they made a deal with a friend and the outcome that happened because of it.

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  3. I think that book is cute. It definitely is great to teach students the importance of helping people and to get it in their heads since they are young. Maybe as another activity, they could see how they could help make something better in their classroom or school.

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