It doesn’t matter how many times I’m told this story I still feel indifferent when hearing or reading it. The illustrations in this book were gorgeous. They were simple and used only a few colors but were extremely effective in adding to the story. I liked how as each pile of straw she was supposed to spin into gold got bigger in the story the pictures also represented that. Next I liked the characters in the story. The characters developed well throughout the book. My favorite was the development of the miller’s daughter who married and became queen. Despite the fact that she made a deal to give away her first born son she was going to stop at nothing to prevent herself from losing him. However I didn’t like the plot of the story how the girl was in distress and was willing to give up anything to fix her problem. For example she is so overwhelmed about the amount of straw she has to spin that she gives up her first-born son without thinking about the future. I think the big idea/message of this story is to think about the consequences of your action and to never give up when faced with a problem. ( )

I enjoyed the story of Rumpelstiltskin. The conflict of the story was apparent which was that the queen had promised Rumpelstiltskin her 1st born son. In the story the narrator says, "The queen begged him not to take her son". The conflict of the story is clear that when it came time for the queen to fulfill her promise, she did not want to. The illustrations in the story enhance the mood of the story. The illustrators detail on the character create the mood within the story. For example when it shows the queen's reaction to the chance that Rumpelstiltskin could take her son, the illustrator drew the queen to look distraught with tears coming down her face. The main message in the story is to not be greedy. Greed is shown the most from the king and Rumpelstiltskin. The king shows his greed by having the girl (the soon to be queen) turn straw into enormous amounts of gold. Rumpelstiltskin shows greed by only helping the girl if he is receiving something in return which was a ring, necklace and her first born son. Rumpelstiltskin agrees to help the queen for a 3rd time in the story but in return for his help he would get her first born son. In the end though, Rumpelstiltskin's greediness got in the way resulting in the queen getting to keep her son. ( )

I had mixed feelings about this story. I liked the plot because the conflict was relatable. The daughter and her father wanted to impress the king, so she made promises to Rumplestiltskin so that he would use his magic in order to make her appear special. Many people in today’s world make empty promises in order to get ahead and be successful. In this way, the conflict was realistic and relatable. However, I did not like the language that was used. The author was not descriptive when introducing the setting and characters. He simply says, “Once upon a time there was a miller who had a daughter.” This does not give the reader a clear mental image. From reading this, I cannot picture what the miller or the daughter look like, nor can I imagine where the story is taking place. Because I could not clearly picture the details in the story, I lost interest very quickly. The main idea of the story is that you should never pretend to be someone that you are not. ( )