The Girl Who Spun Gold

Author: Virginia Hamilton
Publisher: Bluesky Press
Copyright: 2000
Genre: Fairytale/Folklore
Pages: 40
Reading Level: Ages 8 to 10 (Barnes and Noble)
Summary: Quashiva and her mom are laughing as they work outside. Big King comes by and wants to know what is making all the racket in his kingdom. Quashiva’s mom lies to keep them out of trouble and tells the King that they are just very happy because her daughter can spin gold. The king decides he must marry Quashiva. They are married and he tells her that after a year and a day, she must spin him golden thread and other nice golden things. They are very happy for one year and then when the deal goes down he locks her in a room the size of a playing field to spin gold. She is upset and a little man who shows up as sparkles of gold to the rest of the world says he will spin the gold for her. In return she will have three guesses for three nights to guess his name but if she doesn’t guess it he will turn her into a little person too and take her with him. This goes on for two nights and on the third day the King tells his wife he saw a little man in a hole while he was out hunting singing about his name, Lit’mahn Bittyun. She is able to guess his name on the third night and he turns into the sparkles of gold and the only time people see him anymore is if they say his name.
Who would you recommend this book to? I would recommend this to anyone is familiar with the story of Rumpelstiltskin.
Potential problems or conflicts: I don't see any problems or conflicts with this book.
My reaction: This was a fun, different version of Rumpelstiltskin. It was fun to read it with the cultural twist to it. I think it was Jamaican or something because it had a cool slang dialect writing.