The Girl Who Spun Gold [Hardcover]

Leo & Diane Dillon (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

"Stirring...with a rhythm just right for reading aloud...a West Indian version of the universal little-man (Rumpelstiltskin) folktale. Quashiba's mother...boasts that her daughter can spin and weave a whole field of the finest gold thread. Dramatic words and pictures." - Booklist, starred review. "A charming and visually stunning tale of cunning, greed, and quixotic good fortune." - School Library Journal, starred review

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A lovely peasant girl named Quashiba is spinning thread and laughing with her mama one day when young Big King comes riding through the trees, wondering what all the noise is about. Quashiba's quick-thinking, fast-talking mama tells a terrible fib. "Oh, great Big King, my daughter is spinning a whole field of finest golden thread to make cloth for his Highest. And we are so happy, we are rejoicing about it, don't cha know." And before Quashiba knows what's happening, Big King decides that he must have her as his queen so that she may spin him rooms full of golden thread. In despair, Quashiba agrees to a near-impossible bargain with a demonic, pointy-toothed little imp who shows up, promising to help her make the golden things.

The universal "Lit'mahn" folktale has many variants around the world, including the best-known German version, Rumpelstiltskin. In this West Indian version, the award-winning team of Virginia Hamilton and Leo and Diane Dillon, who, among them, have received the National Book Award, the Newbery Medal, three Newbery Honors, the Coretta Scott King Award, two Caldecott Medals, and many others, has created a spectacularly beautiful and delightful rendering of the favorite tale. Hamilton translates the language into a lilting colloquial style, perfect for reading aloud, while the Dillons use metallic paint and gold leaf to produce stunning, frame-worthy paintings replete with patterns, textures, and lavish colors. In a charming, strong-woman twist, the story concludes with Quashiba demanding (and her husband giving) an apology for his greedy, unfair behavior, and the two of them live "fairly happily ever after." (Ages 5 to 8) --Emilie Coulter

From Publishers Weekly

In this evocative picture book, Hamilton (Her Stories; Bluish) spins a new tale from old, as she adapts a West Indian version of "Rumpelstiltskin." The warm Caribbean climes are home to Quashiba, a young spinner woman who becomes wife to the ruler of the land, Big King, having been chosen for her supposed ability to spin gold. When Big King expects her to actually produce rooms full of golden cloth, help arrives in the form of Lit'mahn, a troll-like creature with a wooden leg and a long tail. Lit'mahn extends the familiar "guess my name" challenge and, in keeping with other versions of the story, winds up on the losing end. Readers will enjoy the familiar feel and the gentle cadence of the story here, made all the more rhythmic by the West Indian dialect Hamilton employs ("Don't cha know!"; "For true!"). In opulent illustrations, the Dillons (To Every Thing There Is a Season) take it to the gilt, incorporating copious amounts of gold paint in their creamy acrylic compositions. They frame each right-hand, full-page scene with a luxurious gold-leaf border that extends partway onto the previous page. Gloriously colored garments from an imperial era gone by plus the truly hideous appearance of the wild-eyed, sharp-toothed Lit'mahn add drama and depth to the proceedings. Ages 4-up. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Blue Sky Press (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0590473786
• ISBN-13: 978-0590473781
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 12.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #366,108 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #17 in Books > Children's Books > Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths > United States

More About the Author

Virginia Esther Hamilton was born, as she said, "on the outer edge of the Great Depression," on March 12, 1934. The youngest of five children of Kenneth James and Etta Belle Perry Hamilton, Virginia grew up amid a large extended family in Yellow Springs, Ohio. The farmlands of southwestern Ohio had been home to her mother's family since the late 1850s, when Virginia's grandfather, Levi Perry, was brought into the state as an infant via the Underground Railroad.

Virginia graduated at the top of her high-school class and received a full scholarship to Antioch College in Yellow Springs. In 1956, she transferred to the Ohio State University in Columbus and majored in literature and creative writing. She moved to New York City in 1958, working as a museum receptionist, cost accountant, and nightclub singer, while she pursued her dream of being a published writer. She studied fiction writing at the New School for Social Research under Hiram Haydn, one of the founders of Atheneum Press.

It was also in New York that Virginia met poet Arnold Adoff. They were married in 1960. Arnold worked as a teacher, and Virginia was able to devote her full attention to writing, at least until daughter Leigh was born in 1963 and son Jaime in 1967. In 1969, Virginia and Arnold built their "dream home" in Yellow Springs, on the last remaining acres of the old Hamilton/Perry family farm, and settled into a life of serious literary work and achievement.

In her lifetime, Virginia wrote and published 41 books in multiple genres that spanned picture books and folktales, mysteries and science fiction, realistic novels and biography. Woven into her books is a deep concern with memory, tradition, and generational legacy, especially as they helped define the lives of African Americans. Virginia described her work as "Liberation Literature." She won every major award in youth literature.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars beautiful!, March 2, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Girl Who Spun Gold (Hardcover)

What a beautiful book! Beautiful language, beautiful pictures. Even my 3-year-old son, who usually just likes books about trucks, wanted me to read it over and over. I like it better than the German version (Rumplestilskin); Quashiba acts much more like a real person here.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fine example of children's literature!, June 10, 2004

By 

Reginald D. Garrard "the G-man" (Camilla, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Girl Who Spun Gold (Hardcover)

WARNING: SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

Quashiba finds herself in a precarious situation. Due to a slight untruth told by her mother to a visiting king, the young lady is forced to marry to king with the promise that she can weave fine golden cloth.

Though she is attended by handmaidens and receives her every want, her new husband demands that she come through with her mother?s promise after they are married one year and a day.

The time arrives and the girl knows not what to do. A little man with a wooden leg, a tail and wearing striped trousers magically appears one evening. He offers to help her make the fabric but with a price for his assistance: she has three nights and three chances per night to guess his name; if she doesn?t, she will be his tiny companion?forever.

After two days of successfully presenting the golden thread to her spouse, as well of two days of unsuccessfully guessing the little man?s name, the Quashiba feels impending doom. However, during dinner, her husband tells of his unusual encounter with a little man named "Lit'manhn Bittyun."

Quashiba is relieved and that evening when the little man comes, she toys with him with two fake names, finally announcing his real name.

The sprite storms off and is never seen again.

Knowledgeable readers will automatically see the similarity between this tale and the European ?Rumplestiltskin?. The book's illustrations are vivid and thought-provoking, making this book a KO for the primary classroom, combining fantasy, familial relationships, and effective use of dialect/language.

The late Hamilton has scored another winner that will embellish the home as well as the classroom.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps the Best "Rumpelstiltskin" Story, October 9, 2001

By 

Crazy James (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Girl Who Spun Gold (Hardcover)

In this West Indian version of Rumpelstiltskin, Queen Quashiba marries the rich and powerful Big King, but must produce three rooms full of gold cloth after a year and a day or be locked away forever and a year. How will she ever accomplish such a supernatural feat?

The book is richly illustrated with vibrant colors and the words are pleasing to read silently or aloud. Both Virginia Hamiltion and the Dillons prove to be masters of their respective crafts and together produce a winning combination in their version of this classic tale.

Crazy James