In Elizabeth C. Bunce's book A Curse Dark as Gold, we have a retelling of the Rumpelsliltskin story set in
a small English village. The village grew up around a river-operated mill owned by the Miller family through many generations. The Millers have had all kinds of tragedies - breakdowns at the mill, unexplained accidents, and deaths of male children in the family. Finally the last of the Miller family, Charlotte and Rosie, are trying to keep the mill going through debt, accidents, and sabotage. One dark night a strange-looking man calling himself Jack Spinner appears and offers to help. Well, you know that part of the story, but Bunce adds witchcraft, mystery, and romance to this fairy tale and gives us a compelling story. This book is already in the Lakeview collection and is listed on Oprah's Kids Reading List.
a small English village. The village grew up around a river-operated mill owned by the Miller family through many generations. The Millers have had all kinds of tragedies - breakdowns at the mill, unexplained accidents, and deaths of male children in the family. Finally the last of the Miller family, Charlotte and Rosie, are trying to keep the mill going through debt, accidents, and sabotage. One dark night a strange-looking man calling himself Jack Spinner appears and offers to help. Well, you know that part of the story, but Bunce adds witchcraft, mystery, and romance to this fairy tale and gives us a compelling story. This book is already in the Lakeview collection and is listed on Oprah's Kids Reading List.Shannon Hale has retold a little-known Grimm's fairy tale in Book of a Thousand Days. While I didn't recognize the fairy tale, I was quickly caught up in the story which Hale has placed in 
a central Asian setting to add an intriguing element. The story is told in a journal/diary kept by a young servant girl Dashti who follows her royal mistress Lady Saren into banishment for not marrying her father's choice. This banishment is to be sealed up in a tower for seven years with enough food and fuel, but little light and no contact with the outside world. The girls are able to escape after about four years but find their world completely changed. The kingdom has been reduced to rubble. No one is left alive. To find out what has happened the girls travel to Lady Saren's true love's city and disguise themselves as kitchen maids. While there is a happy ending, it may not be the one you expect. This book will be added to the Lakeview collection in the fall.
a central Asian setting to add an intriguing element. The story is told in a journal/diary kept by a young servant girl Dashti who follows her royal mistress Lady Saren into banishment for not marrying her father's choice. This banishment is to be sealed up in a tower for seven years with enough food and fuel, but little light and no contact with the outside world. The girls are able to escape after about four years but find their world completely changed. The kingdom has been reduced to rubble. No one is left alive. To find out what has happened the girls travel to Lady Saren's true love's city and disguise themselves as kitchen maids. While there is a happy ending, it may not be the one you expect. This book will be added to the Lakeview collection in the fall.
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